A Different Life One Shots
by Totalpanik
Summary: A One shot collection taking place after the ending of my story "A Different Life"
1. Merry Christmas

**Author's Note:**  
 **Here we go, the first one shot!**  
 **I apologize if there's any mistakes, I didn't really have the time to edit it because I just wanted to get it out before Christmas.**

 **I hope you like it :)**

 **Also since there's some differences between how we celebrate Christmas in Sweden (for example we celebrate the 24th, open the presents in the afternoon and Santa comes knocking on the door and comes inside instead of coming through the chimney at night) and in America.**  
 **My knowledge about the American way to celebrate Christmas is 100% based on the Christmas movies I've seen so if there's any details wrong or something it's entirely on me.**

 **Other than that I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas.**

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Celebrating Christmas with Neal was something that both Peter and Elizabeth had been looking forward to.  
They just couldn't wait to decorate the tree with their child, to have him help Elizabeth bake gingerbread cookies and they couldn't wait to see his joy as he ripped open his presents.  
They had already given him a chocolate calendar when December came along and the kid had almost cried with joy because he had never ever had one before.  
The boy treated the calendar as if it had been made of glass, carrying it carefully as if it would break if he was too rough with it.  
He always opened it on the evening when they watched TV together and he took really small bites ,making him look like a squirrel, in order to make the little chocolate piece last as long as possible.

Normally the Burkes took care of their Christmas shopping early in order to avoid all the crowds but this year they waited with a couple of things just to have an excuse to go to the mall.  
The real reason was that they wanted Neal to meet Santa.  
Peter and Elizabeth walked hand in hand through the sea of people while Neal ran in front of them, somehow managing to not run into someone else.  
The Burkes hadn't even bothered to tell him to slow down since they knew that their kid wouldn't listen anyway and Neal used to stay within their sight.  
It was the week before Christmas, which was why the mall was filled to the brink with shoppers, everyone stressing to buy their Christmas presents.  
Neal suddenly came to a halt, causing a grumpy middle-aged man to almost bump into him.  
The middle-aged man looked like he was going to yell at him but when Peter glared daggers at him, the man huffed and continued walking.  
They reached Neal and saw that the kid had stopped because he had spotted the mall Santa, sitting on a chair with a small girl in his lap.

" Do you want to see Santa, Neal?"

Elizabeth asked and the child looked up at them with uncertainty written all over his face.

"I don't know."  
"Come on, wouldn't it be fun to talk to Santa? And I would love a picture of you two together."  
"Okay."

Neal said with a sigh as if he didn't want to do it and just said okay for Elizabeth's sake.  
The adults looked at each other before shrugging, both of them writing it off as him being shy.  
They walked over to the mall Santa and got in line.

It felt like they stood there forever, surrounded by kids who were either jumping around, screaming, crying or just being loud.  
By the time it was their turn, both of the adults felt like they could collapse from exhaustion but they kept smiling.  
Neal clutched Peter's hand tightly and he had been since the start, he had probably been the only child who had been calm and quiet.  
Peter gave him a gentle push towards Santa and the boy hesitated before he slowly started to walk towards the bearded man.  
As Neal walked towards the man, Peter mouthed his name and the Santa nodded.

"Hello there, Neal."

Santa greeted as the kid reached him and Neal turned around and looked at the adults, looking shocked at the fact that Santa knew his name.  
Santa then reached out for Neal and carefully lifted the six-year-old onto his lap.

"Have you been a good boy this year?"

Santa asked and Neal just shrugged, causing Santa to let out a hearty laugh.

"What do you want for Christmas, Neal?"

He asked and while the other kids mostly wished for expensive toys and a puppy, Neal just mumbled that he wanted chocolate and some art supplies.  
Then they took a picture of him with Santa which Elizabeth were given in an envelope.  
As they left, a young girl dressed as an elf also gave Neal a Christmas present.  
Peter and Elizabeth thought that the visit with Santa went great and they couldn't wait to show the picture to Mozzie, June, Jones and Diana who would all find it absolutely adorable.  
At least they thought the visit went great until they were walking towards their next destination and they heard the unmistakable sound of Neal crying, something that caused the parental instincts to take over completely.  
The other people around them didn't exist in that moment and they just rushed forward to Neal and Peter spun him around to see tears running down his cheeks.

"What's the matter, kiddo?"  
"I don't deserve this."

Neal said in between sobs and looked at the gift he had received from the elf.

"Of course you do, sweetie."  
"No I don't. That's not the real Santa because the real Santa doesn't give me any gifts. The real Santa knows I'm not good."

Neal sobbed while the people passing by kept glaring at them, mad that they had not only stopped in the middle of the walkway but also had a crying child.  
The kid gave the gift to Elizabeth before he threw himself in Peter's arms.  
Peter lifted him up and tried to console him but no matter what he or Elizabeth said, the child wouldn't stop crying and they decided to do the rest of their Christmas shopping another day.  
Peter guessed that his was James' doing, based on what he knew about Neal's biological parents he was sure that it was his father who had been cruel enough to let Neal believe that it was his fault he didn't get any gifts.

The Burkes had been unable to convince Neal that he was deserving of gifts and they had feared that because of this he wouldn't have any Christmas spirit but they were wrong.  
Neal loved decorating the house and the tree, squealing with joy when Peter had lifted him up and let him put the star on top of the tree.  
He had also love making gingerbread cookies, apart from the regular shapes he was also given a knife to cut his own shapes.  
Neal showed his artistic abilities and made a big dog who was supposed to be Satchmo, all the letters of his name, a hat and a big square that he later wrote FBI on with icing, claiming that it was his badge.  
Peter had jokingly accused him of forgery and Neal had flashed his gingerbread badge before arresting Peter for slander, which basically meant that Peter was banned from the kitchen and had to sit on the couch, something that he didn't mind since there was a game on.  
His favourite part was when he made his own Christmas decorations, cutting snowflakes and drawing Christmas themed drawings to decorate the fridge.  
They also made sure to watch a lot of Christmas movies, Neal's favourite being the movie "Elf" where Buddy made him giggle all the time, while his least favourite was "How the Grinch stole Christmas" because the Grinch kind of scared him.

Finally the day they had been waiting for was arriving and as they went to bed the evening before Santa arrived, it was actually the adults who had a hard time falling asleep while Neal fell asleep immediately.  
They had bought a lot of gifts for Neal, and they had to stop themselves from spoiling the kid too much especially since they knew that the kid would receive more gifts from their friends.  
They woke up early and went down the stairs to start breakfast while they let Neal sleep in.  
The tree had several presents underneath it and on the coffee table was the milk and cookies they had convinced Neal to put out the night before.  
The milk was gone while there was only half of a cookie left on the plate.  
When Neal came downstairs they both looked at the boy excitedly, hoping to see some sort of reaction from him but he just walked past the tree as if it didn't even exist.

"Did you see that Santa's been here?"

Elizabeth asked and Neal nodded, looking completely indifferent.

"Don't you want to see if he left something for you?"  
"It's no use, Peter."

The boy answered and Elizabeth slumped her shoulders, looking defeated but Peter didn't give up that easily.

"Well can you get one of my presents then?"

He asked and Neal sighed before trudging over to the tree and picked up the first gift he saw.  
The six-year-old froze as he read the tag and they could hear him whispering every single letter several times, as if he didn't believe that he read the name on it right.  
Neal slowly turned around and walked towards them, clutching the gift close to his chest.

"This says Neal."

He told him with a confused frown before showing the tag to Peter so he could read it as well.

"Merry Christmas Neal from Santa."  
"Looks like you've been a good boy this year, sweetie."

Elizabeth said and Neal's face lit up as he realized that Santa had actually left him a gift.

"Do you think there's more?"

He asked and they both shrugged.

"Why don't you go look?"

Neal ran back to the tree and started to go through all of the gifts, letting out a shriek of joy every time he came across a gift with his name on it.  
Soon he had organized all of the gifts into four separate piles, the biggest one was his gifts, the two smaller ones was for the adults and then finally there were a small pile for Satchmo as well.

"Look! Sachmo's been a good boy too!"  
Neal exclaimed, causing the dog to wag his tail.

They all opened their gifts together and Neal took his time to look at and appreciate every single one of his gifts.  
There was one simple gift that actually brought him to tears and that was a chocolate bar, the exact same kind that his mother used to give him and the same kind that he had shoplifted a while back.  
He had, between sobs, asked how Santa knew that his mother used to give him this chocolate and Elizabeth had been quick on her feet and said that Santa knew all of the angels, which made the boy cry even harder because he was so happy to know that his mommy was an angel.  
After all of the gifts had been opened and all of the tears had dried, Peter left the room only to return with the gift that the elf at the mall had given him.

"You kept it!"

Neal exclaimed before he opened it up, no longer believing that he didn't deserve it.  
Inside the box was a fluffy dog plushie.  
Neal looked over at Satchmo who were happily chewing on a bone he'd been given.

"I already have a lot of stuffed animals but Satchmo doesn't have any."

Neal said before he crawled over to the dog.  
The adults shared a worried look, knowing that the reason Satchmo didn't have any stuffed animals was because he tended to rip it to shreds in the matter of seconds.  
To their surprise Satchmo accepted the toy and gave it a gentle lick instead of slaughtering it.

When the first guest arrived Elizabeth was in the kitchen cooking their dinner, Peter were assisting her and Neal were setting the table while loudly singing Jingle Bells.  
The kid immediately abandoned his task when he heard the doorbell and skipped over to open the door for June and Bugsy.  
The dogs immediately started to happily play with each other while June and Neal put the gifts she'd brought under the tree where they would sit until after dinner.  
It didn't take long before Jones and Diana arrived, Jones wearing a Santa hat and Diana wearing golden, glittery reindeer antlers.  
They even brought a couple of reindeer antlers for Neal who excitedly put them on before running around, telling everyone that he was Comet, which apparently was his favourite reindeer.  
Finally Mozzie arrived, wearing an elf hat.  
While they waited for the food to get ready, Neal showed the guests what he had gotten from Santa and it was clear to everyone in the room that the child was having the best Christmas of his entire life.  
Peter and Elizabeth looked over at the guests who were laughing at something Neal had said and then they looked at each other.  
Last Christmas it had only been Peter, Elizabeth and Satchmo which had been cozy but also kind of lonely.  
Their wonderful little child had not only made their Christmas better but he had also managed to bring all of these people together.

After dinner, when everyone's stomachs were hurting from too much food and way too much laughter, they walked over to the tree.  
They had all gotten Christmas gifts for each other, Peter had been surprised to see that even Mozzie had participated and bought gifts for the FBI agents.  
Yet again, Neal's pile was the biggest.  
June got him several expensive, top quality art supplies and an art journal where you each day of the year got a challenge to draw something.  
Jones got him a book about dinosaurs and the movie "Disney's Dinosaurs".  
Diana got him a hoodie where the hood looked like t-rex head and the back had scales as well as a pack of Legos.  
Mozzie gave him a couple of books, some of them regular children's books while some of them was about art, and a lock picking set, something that made Peter shake his head and mouth "really?".  
After opening all of the gifts they watched the Disney version of "A Christmas carol" and "Home Alone" together before they moved to the kitchen table to play board games.  
The FBI agents had to keep an eye on June and Mozzie when they played Monopoly, since they both were caught both cheating and teaching Neal how to cheat.  
They moved on to Trivial Pursuit where Neal sat in Peter's lap and rolled the dice for him and eventually managed to answer one of the easier questions.  
They put out the gingerbread cookies they had made and while the adults were served mulled wine, Neal was happily sipping a hot cocoa.  
Eventually Neal couldn't stay awake anymore, no matter how much he wanted the day to last forever, and he dozed off in Peter's lap.  
They paused the game so that Peter could carry the boy up the stairs and put him to bed.

"This was one of the best days ever."

Neal mumbled as Peter tucked him in.

"I'm glad to hear that."

He said and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"And guess what, pal. New Year's is just around the corner."  
"Can't wait."

Neal mumbled before he fully gave in to sleep and Peter smiled before he left the room and went down to join the rest of the adults downstairs.  
If New Year's was going to be anything like today, Peter couldn't wait either.


	2. Happy New Year!

**HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!**  
 **I HOPE YOUR 2018 HAVE BEEN GREAT AND THAT 2019 WILL BE EVEN BETTER!**

 **I have based this entirely on how I've celebrated New year's eve, including basing Neal's excitement on how my 6-year-old little brother acted last year.**  
 **I also chose to include a Swedish tradition (and according to Wikipedia it's also a tradition in some other European countries) to watch the British sketch "Dinner for one", in Swedish called "Grevinnan och betjänten".**  
 **They air it at 19:45 every New Year's Eve and it's a tradition to watch it (just like we watch the Disney "From All of Us to All of You" at 3PM every single Christmas eve).**  
 **Just because I love the tradition and I thought that it would be fun to include even though it might not make sense.**

 **Also I did not have time to edit this since I was done with it pretty late in the evening.**  
 **So if there's any mistakes, it's entirely my fault and I'm sorry :)**

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The week between Christmas and New Year's eve couldn't have pass any slower, at least according to Neal.  
Even if he had plenty of things to do, everything from using all the things he had gotten for Christmas to activities that the adults had planned, he just kept complaining that the days went by too slow and acted as if new year's was months away and not just days.  
Finally, the 31st arrived but the Burkes' relief over no more complaining was very short lived.  
As soon as Neal woke up he started complaining that the hours were going by too slowly and that he wanted to go to June's right NOW.  
The Burkes had originally planned on celebrating the new year at their own home, like they always did, but June had insisted that they would all come to her house for the celebration.  
It had been the fact that they wouldn't have to cook the food and that they would have an amazing view of all the fireworks from her balcony that had made them give in and accept the woman's offer.  
Finally, it was time to leave the house and Neal, who had been dressed and ready to go for the pat 10 minutes, were impatiently telling them to hurry.

"We were gonna be there at 3PM! If you don't hurry we will never make it there in time!"

The kid said while he grabbed Peter's glove and more or less threw them at him.  
Peter just chuckled at him, the child was truly a time pessimist but at least that would make him punctual.

When they arrive they were met by Mozzie who were just returning from a walk with Bugsy.  
It was hard for them to not laugh when the tiny pug spotted Satchmo and decided that he wanted to say hello to his friend, which meant that the dog went from calmly walking to pulling on the leash with all of his might.  
Mozzie, who had not at all been prepared for the sudden strength, was completely caught off guard and stumbled, almost falling and faceplanting the ground.  
The short man grumbled to himself before letting go of the leash, knowing that the dog was too distracted by Satch to even think about running away, and the tiny dog ran to the bigger dog as fast as his little legs could carry him.  
After the dogs had happily greeted each other, they went inside where June were cooking, they had sort of expected that she would have a maid or something cook for her but they had been wrong

"June, do you need any help?"

Elizabeth asked, seeing that the woman was running around the kitchen, trying to do everything at the same time.

"No thank you, Elizabeth. I've got this. You guys are guests so you should just go and sit down, make yourselves at home."

She answered before she more or less forced the couple out of the kitchen.  
The Burkes sat down on a couch while their kid sat down by the piano with Mozzie and the two friends started to play around with it.  
A couple of minutes later Jones and Diana arrived and Peter got up to greet them while Elizabeth, who still felt bad that June was doing everything by herself, went to see if she could at least cut some vegetables or set the table.

"No Christie?"

Peter asked Diana, knowing that her girlfriend had been scheduled to work during Christmas but had promised to show up today.

"Major traffic accident involving a bus full of people, they had to pull in every doctor they could."

She explained but Peter could sense some tension there, as if there was something more than that, but that wasn't something he was going to bring up today.  
Peter changed the subject to a little more lighter topic and was in the middle of a joke, admittedly a bad one, when Neal suddenly showed up and started to pull on his hand.

"Come and listen, daddy! You have to come listen!"

He told him excitedly while pulling his hand as much as possible and Peter smiled at his choice of words.  
Even if he had asked if he could call them mommy and daddy, he hadn't made the switch yet.  
Neal had only called him daddy one time before and that had been when he had been woken up by scratches from his closet.  
The poor kid had been absolutely terrified, he had been a sobbing mess begging him to "please get rid of the monster daddy!" while he clung onto Elizabeth for dear life.  
In the end Peter had opened the closet and had been met by none other than Satchmo.  
The dog had at some point got into the closet and fallen asleep on a pile of clothes and then someone had closed the closet door without noticing the dog's presence.

" Okay, okay I'm coming."

Peter told him and followed him back to the piano where Neal sat down and started to play the melody of 'Twinkle little star' without any mistakes.  
Peter and his coworkers applauded when the boy finished and Neal smiled proudly.

"Kid's a natural."  
Mozzie remarked before he turned back to the piano and moved to another easy melody that he could teach him.

June had decided to serve a three course meal, starting with a creamy broccoli soup.  
Neal was slightly skeptical about it at first but once they convinced him to try it, he seemed unable to stop eating it and they had to remind him that they would be served more food.  
Their main course was not one, not two but three different kind of pies since June hadn't been sure what they would like.  
The first one was a taco pie decorated with nacho chips on top, the second one was a pie with mushroom and onions and the last one was a cheese and broccoli pie.  
They tried a piece of every pie and they were all perfect.

"So who's the better chef, me or Elizabeth?"

June asked Neal and even if she was joking it reminded Peter of how his mother and grandmother had always competed about who was the best chef and made the kids the judges.  
Neal looked between June and Elizabeth who was glaring at each other, pretending that this was a serious competition.

"I think you're both great."

The boy answered, smart enough to not pick a side even if it wasn't for real.  
The women stopped glaring at each other and instead smiled, both seeming satisfied with his answer.

"Good answer."

June said before she, with the help of Peter and Jones, started to clear the table.  
The last course was of course the dessert and the course that Neal had been looking forward to the most.  
For dessert they got a homemade chocolate mousse with whipped cream on top.  
Neal was given the glass with the most in, something that caused him to look like he had just won the lottery through the entire meal.

After dinner the adults had some coffee while Neal had left the table and was now placed on the floor with a pencil and a paper, trying to draw the adults.  
Once and again he would yell out things like: "Peter sit still!" and the person who had been yelled at had to sit still until Neal said they could move again.  
When Neal was done he proudly showed it to them and even if it was still a kid's drawing, it was pretty amazing.  
The amount of detail he had added and how he had managed to capture things like their facial expressions were truly amazing for a 6-year-old.  
June, who had been gifted the drawing, had immediately found an appropriate frame and framed it, throwing the photo in the frame aside since it wasn't as important.  
Then they all sat down in front of the TV and watched "Dinner for One".  
Neal was amused by the sketch, giggling almost nonstop, and the funniest part, according to him, was when the butler tripped over the tiger's head.  
Once it was over, they decided to play some games, starting with teaching Neal some simple card games.  
He caught on pretty quickly and they weren't sure if it was beginner's luck or cheating but the kid won almost every single round they played.  
Then they moved on to playing some of the child appropriate board games that Elizabeth and Peter had brought with them before they moved on to playing Trivial Pursuit where Neal, just like last time, helped Peter roll the dice and answer some of the easier questions.

They had originally planned on putting Neal down for a nap by his usual bedtime and then wake him up before midnight but the stubborn child had managed to convince them to let him stay up, something that he kept bragging about the entire time.  
No matter how much he bragged though and no matter how much he fought it, he was still out like a light by 10PM.  
One second he was sitting on the floor, lazily playing with the dogs, and then the next he was sprawled out on the floor, his head rested on a very confused looking Satchmo.

"Damn."

Jones said before reaching into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, pulling out a 10 dollar bill that he handed to a smug looking Mozzie.  
June and Diana both sighed before getting up from the table, going to fetch their wallets as well.

"Did you guys bet on how long he would make it?"

Peter asked, partly surprised that they were betting on his son and partly offended that no one had told him about it.

"Can you believ-"

He turned to ask his wife but interrupted himself as he noticed that she had left the table as well.

"Really? You were in on it as well?"

The agent asked her as she returned with a 10-dollar bill in her hand.

"I thought he would last at least 20 more minutes."

She just answered and Peter shook his head before he got up from his chair.

"Unbelievable."

He muttered, now really offended that he had been the only one left out, as he lifted up the sleeping child and freeing the dog, who hadn't dared to move a muscle.  
He carried Neal up the stairs and put him in a bed in one of the guest rooms, not only was it more comfortable but it was also no chance of him getting disturbed by the adults now.  
Peter tucked him in before leaving the room and going downstairs to the rest of the adults who had refilled the glasses of wine.  
He was glad that they had all gotten to the agreement that they could all drink if they wanted to but no one was going to drink too much.  
Considering James' alcoholism, they had no idea how Neal was going to react if one of them had too much and he noticed it.

They spent their time playing more games, just talking to each other and in general just having a good time with many laughs.  
Elizabeth left the table by 11.50PM and went up the stairs to wake Neal up, wanting to give him a couple of minutes to fully wake up before midnight, while the rest of them started to prepare for midnight.  
Jones was sent to fetch the champagne, Diana got some soda for Neal while June and Peter carried the glasses up to the balcony where they would start the new year.  
There were already several fireworks being set off, and they had been both seeing and hearing them for the past couple of hours.  
Soon Elizabeth came out on the balcony with a tired Neal by her side.  
He trudged over to Peter and lifted his arms up, indicating that he wanted to be picked up.  
The agent easily picked him up and held him tightly as Neal leaned his head against his shoulder while he looked at the fireworks.  
Mozzie was in charge of keeping track of the exact time and soon started to count down from 15, the other ones joining in once he reached 10.  
Neal had gotten a little more alert and was now happily counting down with them until they reached zero and they all yelled out "Happy new year!" as the sky exploded with colour and the loud bangs echoed through the city.  
They clinked their glasses together before drinking their champagne and soda.  
Neal then spent a minute or two looking at the fireworks with awe before asking Peter to put him down.

Peter only looked at the fireworks for a minute before he looked down again but when he did the kid was gone.  
He looked around him but there were only adults on the balcony.  
He was positive that Neal had just gone inside to use the bathroom or something but Peter still excused himself and went inside to locate his boy.  
With everything that had happened, with the running away and the kidnapping, you couldn't exactly blame Peter and Elizabeth for being slightly overprotective of Neal.  
He searched the entire house, looking in every room and calling out for his name but received no answer.  
It was like he had vanished into thin air.  
Peter was just about to return to the others and sound the alarm when he heard a whimper coming from under the bed.  
He crouched down and saw Neal lying there, tears rolling down his cheeks as he hugged the two shaking, whimpering dogs.

" They're really scared, Peter."

Neal said with a sniffle before tightening his grip around the dogs.

"New Year's is not fun for them. It's not fun at all."

He couldn't help but feel proud of the kid who felt so much empathy for the dogs and chose to comfort them instead of looking at the fireworks that he had spent the entire week waiting for.

"Do you want to stay with them until it's over?"

Peter asked and Neal nodded.

"Can you stay too?"

Even if Peter loved to look at the fireworks and even if he wanted to celebrate with the other, he too empathized with the animals and knew that their celebrations were torture for them.

"Yeah I'll stay."  
He answered and lied down on the floor, reaching his arm under the bed so that he could pet the dogs.

It was over 1 AM when the Burkes finally arrived home and they were all exhausted.  
Neal had fallen asleep again in the car and Peter had to carry him yet again while Elizabeth was fighting to hold on to Satchmo's leash, the dog panicking every time a late firework was heard.  
They finally made it inside where Elizabeth quickly made sure that Satch had food and water and that both of the doors were locked and all of the lights were off before they walked up the stairs to tuck Neal in before they went to their own room.  
Peter gently put Neal in the bed and Elizabeth pulled the cover over him before she leaned against Peter, resting her tired head against his shoulder.

"It was a good year."

Elizabeth said with a yawn and Peter smiled.  
It was definitely a good year because they had been blessed with this wonderful boy.

"And I think this year will be even better."

Peter answered before they both kissed Neal's forehead and left the room to go to bed.  
The year had been good but it had also been tough, with Neal living on the street, with being kidnapped and dealing with bullies.  
This year they were a family and with all the bad guys out of their lives they were more than ready to have a normal year and become closer as a family.  
Who knows what this year have to offer?

 **I did feel the need to include the part about the dogs because we had a wonderful little family dog, a corgi, from 2003 to the very start of 2015.**  
 **(Not so fun fact: My dog actually got sick on new year's eve 2014 and passed away on the 1st of January 2015.)**  
 **Our dog was terrified of fireworks and he had epilepsy which was a major worry so as a child I used to watch the fireworks for a minute before spending the rest of the time under a bed with my dog just like Neal.**  
 **I do love watching fireworks but I also do suffer with the animals so I just felt the need to include their perspective of New Year's.**

 **Also I have to say that I'm going through a lot right now, I got sick and missed Christmas eve (my fave day of the year) which really triggered my depression, I'm pretty sure I've lost my best friend of 15 years and I have some major writing assignments to do for my uni course.**  
 **(Sorry for oversharing :P)**  
 **Anyways because all of this I just need to take a short break from writing but don't worry I'm only planning on taking January off and are planning on getting this and my other stories updated in February.**  
 **So thank you for understanding why there won't be a new update for a while and I wish you all a very wonderful 2019.**


	3. Sleepover

**Author's Note: I finally got an update together yay!**

 **I took a break from writing in January and was planning on updating my fics in February but then my mental health got even worse and I've been struggling with it ever since.  
I appreciate all the follows/favourites/reviews I've gotten and they've been my motivation to get this together.  
It might not be the best update but at least it's an update :)**

 **I had a couple of ideas but I finally went with this one because it was the easiest one since I just based it on my own sleepovers as a kid.  
**

 **Also I wanted to ask if I should write oneshots just about the time after the end of my story or if I should write oneshots that takes place in the future when Neal is older?  
Lemme know what u think. **

SLEEPOVER

It was Friday morning and the first recess of the day when Sara asked him the question.

"Do you wanna have a sleepover at my house tonight? My mommy said you could."

The girl wore a huge, excited smile on her face and she didn't even give Neal a chance to think it over before she continued.

"It will be really fun! We can play ALL evening and we can tell scary stories and in the morning you can try my daddy's pancakes. They are really yummy!"

The more his friend talked, the more she sold him on the idea and by the time she mentioned her dad's pancakes she had managed to get him just as excited as she was.  
He had never had a sleepover before and it did sound very fun to spend the night at Sara's house.  
Neal loved being at Sara's house since they always had fun together and her parents were always super nice.

"I'm gonna ask 'Lizbeth."

He answered both hoping and believing that she would say yes.  
They spent the rest of the recess hyping each other up, talking about all of the fun things that they were going to do together and at at the next recess they sat down and wrote a schedule of the evening, making sure to fit in every single activity that they wanted to do.  
The day seemed to pass by incredibly slow and both of the kids found it extremely difficult to contain their excitement, something that Mrs. Fisher noticed.  
The teacher had to tell them several times to sit still, stop whispering to each other and pay attention to her.  
After what felt like an eternity the last lesson of the day ended and the friends rushed out of the building and over to the side of the building where parents pick up their children.  
Luckily Elizabeth was already there, standing by her car, and Neal wasted no time rushing over and ask her, but he was so excited that his words came out way faster than Elizabeth could process them.

"Okay slow down, I couldn't a word you said."

She told him with an amused smile and Neal took a deep breath.

"Can I sleep at Sara's house tonight? Please please please pleaaaaaaaaaseee?"

He asked, Sara joining in on the begging and Elizabeth chuckled.  
They looked exactly like Simba and Nala when they asked their mothers for permission to go to the waterhole and it was adorable.

"Is it okay with your parents, Sara?"  
"Yes Mrs. Burke."  
"Well then it's alright with me too."

She answered and the children cheered so loudly that Elizabeth had to protect her ears.  
Sara's mother chose that moment to show up and the women shared an amused smile over the kids who were hugging each other as if their lives depended on it, before they discussed the details.  
Neal gave Sara one last, tight hug before he got into Elizabeth's car so that they could go home and pack.

As soon as Elizabeth unlocked the front door, Neal opened it and rushed inside and up the stairs, not even bothering to greet Satchmo, something that seemed to deeply offend the dog.  
Neal grabbed the things he thought he would need while Elizabeth found a bigger backpack that he could pack in.  
The boy packed his book about dinosaurs, a notebook and both his Satchmo stuffed toy and Raphael the t-Rex plushie, unable to choose between them.  
That was all that he thought that he would need but luckily Elizabeth made sure that the actual essential items like his pajamas and his toothbrush made it into the backpack.  
After they had finished packing and Elizabeth had triple checked the bag to make sure that he had everything he needed, they went downstairs again.  
The adults had decided that they would just go home and pack before going directly to Sara's house in order to give the kids as much time together as possible.  
Just as they made it downstairs, Peter walked through the door.  
He had left work a little earlier today since he had been working overtime every other day of the week.  
The agent looked down at Neal and his backpack before raising his eyebrows.

"What's this?"

He asked.

"Are you leaving for college already?"

He continued, causing Neal to giggle.

"No silly, I'm gonna have a sleepover with Sara?"  
"Oh really?"

Peter asked before he closed the distance between him and his wife.

"So, date night for us then?"

He asked and kissed her, causing Neal to grimace and make gagging noises, still being disgusted by them kissing in front of him.

"Can we please go now?"

He asked impatiently and Elizabeth nodded.  
Neal said goodbye to Peter and Satchmo, hugging them both tightly before they left the house.  
On the way to Sara's house Neal talked non stop, telling Elizabeth every single thing that they were going to do and Elizabeth couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as they finally pulled up in the driveway.  
She loved her kid to the moon and back but he sure had the ability to talk people's ears off.

"Have fun sweetie and don't hesitate to call us."

She told him and hugged him tightly before she let him run off with Sara.  
Elizabeth talked with Sara's parents for a couple of minutes and they assured her that everything would be fine.  
The Burkes had made the decision to tell Sara's parents, but not Sara, about Neal's past so they could be prepared for nightmares or any other issues.  
She eventually had to leave and she couldn't help but feel a sting of separation anxiety as she walked back to her car.

The two friends started out by swinging on the swing set Sara had in her backyard, competing in who could swing the highest.  
Then they went and spent some time with Sara's cat Tellus.  
He was a beautiful white, fluffy cat with bright, green eyes and he was really friendly but Neal still thought that Satchmo was a little better than the cat, something that started a small argument between the two.  
For a second Neal thought that their argument about which pet was better would ruin their entire evening but luckily Sara's mother stepped in and diffused the situation by offering them her homemade lemonade.  
While drinking the lemonade they decided that Satchmo and Tellus was equally good.  
They soon discovered that the schedule they had created wasn't working out for them at all so it eventually ended up in the trash.  
Sara got the brilliant idea to build a fort out of pillows and blankets in Sara's room and they spent a long time making sure that the fort was absolutely perfect.  
Sara's parents decided to order some pizza and since Neal and Sara had similar taste when it came to pizza toppings, they got their own pizza to share and with the promise to be careful they were even allowed to eat in their fort.

"When we grow up we can build a house and live in it together."

Sara said while she looked around their fort, admiring their good work.

"And we can sit in our house and eat all the pizza we want!"

Neal said and the friends shook hands, deciding that it was a deal.  
After eating they left their precious fort to watch a movie, something that led to yet another small fight between them.  
Neal wanted to watch his favourite, The Lion King, and Sara wanted to watch her favourite, Mulan, but when Sara's father threatened with no movie at all they compromised and decided to watch Lilo and Stitch, a movie that they both loved.  
When the movie ended they spent some time looking through Neal's dinosaur book before it was time for the activity that Sara had been looking forward to the most, telling scary stories.

Sara went all out, she turned off all of the lights in her bedroom and only brought a flashlight into the fort.  
Neal didn't really know any scary stories, except for the scary things that had happened to him, and since he couldn't make up any on the spot so Sara ended up doing all of the talking.  
Neal was prepared for silly stories that people told around campfires in the movies but instead Sara told him stories that she claimed was one hundred percent real and had happened to people she knew.  
He didn't know if the stories were real or not but the fact that there was a chance that it could be true scared him.

"My uncle live in a small town and he was visiting his friend one evening. It was close to midnight when he started to walk home from his friend.  
There were no people or cars anywhere.  
When my uncle walked past a daycare he could hear children laughing from the playground and of course he gets worried because it's night and children shouldn't be out.  
He goes to the gate and walks into the playground but once there he doesn't see any children anywhere.  
He calls out but receives no answer. Then he hears children laughing again, coming from the swing set but when he looked over he saw that there was no one on the swings but the swings were swinging on their own, swinging higher and higher and higher."

A chill went through Neal's body at the thought of ghost children playing at playgrounds at night and he squeezed Raphael tighter while trying not to show Sara that the story scared him.  
Despite his efforts she still seemed to notice his fear because she smiled proudly before she moved on to another story.

"There's this guy who used to work with my daddy. One day he stopped coming to work and no one saw him for months, not even his family. Then one night at exactly midnight, daddy hear someone knocking on the door. He opens it and it is the missing guy.  
My dad talked to him but he didn't say anything, he just stared at my dad for several minutes before he left.  
Then the next night it happened again and the night after that and the night after that.  
He still knocks at our door every night at exactly midnight."

Neal hugged Raphael even tighter while Sara's smile grew ever wider.  
The second story was a little scarier because he wasn't sure if he believed in ghosts but in the second story it was a regular human and he knew for sure that people could be very scary.  
Sara went on to tell stories about how she herself had found a haunted cabin on a beach and how her mom had seen a ghost when she was a child.  
Finally Sara's mother came into the room and Neal had never, ever been more glad over being interrupted and being told to go to bed.

Sara's parents told the good night, giving them both a kiss on the forehead before they left the room.  
He feared that Sara would continue her stories but luckily the girl had gotten really tired and fell asleep only minutes after her parents left the room.  
Neal closed his eyes and relaxed, hugging both of his plushies tight while drifting off to sleep.  
The mattress wasn't as comfortable as his bed at home but he didn't mind, as a former street kid he was used to sleeping in much, much worse places.  
His presence at the Burke household hadn't managed to spoil him yet, and not even the foreign sounds or the fact that Sara's room was warmer than his own was something that prevented him from falling asleep.  
Neal wasn't sure how long he had been asleep when he felt himself regain consciousness.  
For a second he was confused as to why he had suddenly woken up, if he didn't have nightmares he usually slept through the night, but then he heard it, a low sound sounding like knocking.  
Sara's story was the first thing that came to mind and he completely froze.  
All he could picture was a man standing outside and knocking on the door.  
Of course, his brain decided to make matters worse by picturing that it was one of the scariest men he knew, Keller or James, standing outside the house, knocking on the door wanting to get in and snatch him.  
Tears built up in his eyes as he thought about the safety of his own home, the safety of Peter who was a brave FBI agent with a gun and Satchmo who could scare any intruders away.  
He didn't want to be here anymore, he no longer felt safe here and no matter how hard he tried to think about something else, his mind wouldn't stop picturing someone coming for him.  
The knocking had ceased but he still didn't dare to move a muscle.  
He didn't know how long he waited before he finally dared to speak.

"S-Sara?"

Neal asked with a shaky voice but received no answer from his friend.

"Sara?"

He tried again, a little louder this time but he was yet again met by silence.  
He looked up at her but his friend seemed to be fast asleep.  
Neal closed his eyes again and tried to think about the pancakes he would eat in the morning.  
Minutes went by, or maybe it was just seconds, and then he heard a sound again.  
He wasn't even sure if it was knocking he heard but it didn't matter, he wanted to go home where he felt safe and no pancakes in the world could stop him now.  
Carefully, as to not disturb his sleeping friend, he got up from the mattress and opened the door.  
On shaky legs he walked through the house towards Sara's parents' bedroom.  
Suddenly a door opened and he jumped, biting his lip to prevent himself from screaming.

"Neal?"

A soft voice said and through tear filled eyes Neal saw Sara's mother standing there, illuminated by the light from the bathroom.

"Are you okay, honey?"

She asked as she noticed how the boy was shaking and had tears in his eyes.

"I wanna go home."  
"Did you have a nightmare?"  
"I just wanna go home."

Neal repeated, not feeling like explaining himself and even if Sara's mother looked concerned she didn't push him again.  
She told him to wait there before she walked to her bedroom, soon returning with her cellphone in her hand.

"Do you want to talk or should I?"

She asked as she dialed and Neal took the phone from her, feeling the need to hear Peter or Elizabeth's voice, and put it to his ear.  
Neal was planning on keeping it together and calmly say that he wanted to go home but as soon as he heard Peter's voice, the tears he had been trying so hard to contain started to roll down his cheeks.

"Burke."

Peter mumbled, sounding like he was still half asleep which meant that the phone call had woken him up but Neal didn't have time to feel bad about that.

"Daddy."

Neal said before sniffling and he could hear shuffling on the other end.

"Neal? What's wrong, buddy?"

Peter continued, now sounding wide awake, while Elizabeth's voice could be heard faintly in the background.

"I wanna go home."  
"I'm coming, bud."

Peter told him, not even caring why he wanted to go home, his son was upset and that was reason enough for the agent to come and get him.  
He promised Neal that he would be there as soon as possible before he hung up.

"Do you want me to wake Sara up?"

Neal shook his head, not wanting her to know what a coward he was, and her mother promised to talk to Sara tomorrow.  
He went back to Sara's room and quietly packed all of his things in his backpack, except for his plushiest that he hugged tightly.  
Neal didn't bother changing his clothes because he would just sit in the car and then he would go to bed once he returned to safety.  
Sara's mother did her best to comfort him but nothing she did helped him calm down, he just wanted his parents right now.  
It felt like forever before they heard a car pull up in the driveway.  
As soon as Sara's mother unlocked the door and opened it, Neal more or less threw himself at Peter.  
The agent easily picked up the child and held him tight as he thanked Sara's mother.  
Sara's mother rubbed Neal's back and wished him a goodnight before they left the house.

Neal was quiet the entire ride home and Peter glanced back several times to see if had fallen asleep but he hadn't.  
They finally got home where Elizabeth was waiting for them, too worried about her little boy to sleep.

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

She asked as soon as they walked through the door and Neal just nodded.

"Do you want some hot chocolate?"  
"Yes please."

Neal mumbled before Peter carried him to the living room and placed him on the couch, enveloping him with a blanket.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Peter asked as he sat down next to him but Neal just shook his head.  
Now that he was home, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed that he had woken them up and forced Peter to come and get him in the middle of the night.  
How would Sara react tomorrow?  
Would she be mad at him for ruining their sleepover?  
He didn't even notice that the tears had begun again until Peter grabbed him and pulled him onto his lap.

"I'm sorry."

Neal said before throwing his arms around Peter.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, kid."

The agent promised while hugging the boy tightly.  
By the time Elizabeth returned with three cups of hot chocolate, he had managed to calm down a little.  
They sat and drank their hot chocolate in silence for a while before Neal felt ready to tell them why he wanted to go home.

"Sara told me scary stories and I was scared by them."

He said, hanging his head in shame before mumbling an apology, still feeling like had inconvenienced them,

"You don't have to apologize."

Peter said but when Neal didn't answer he decided to tell the boy about his first sleepover.

"I was about your age when I had my first sleepover and my dad had to come and pick me up in the middle of the night too."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I was really scared by the unfamiliar noises in the house and I thought that the noises was made by ghosts."

Neal felt comforted by that, if brave FBI agent Peter had been scared at his first sleepover too then maybe he wasn't a coward after all.

"At my first sleepover I ended up sleeping in my friend's parents' bed because I thought there was a monster under my friend's bed."

Elizabeth said and Neal managed to smile, apparently it was normal to get scared and he no longer felt that being scared made him weak.  
There was still a big question eating at him though.

"Is Sara gonna be mad at me?"  
"If Sara had been sleeping here and she wanted to go home, would you have been mad?"

Elizabeth asked and Neal quickly shook his head, he would never want Sara to be forced stay if she wasn't comfortable.

"Sara's not going to be mad at you. It's okay to be scared and it's okay to want to go home when you don't feel comfortable."

Elizabeth promised and stroked some hair away from his forehead.  
After finishing their hot chocolate Elizabeth announced that it was time for bed and the family headed upstairs.  
The adults didn't protest when Neal followed them to their bedroom, in fact they seemed to have expected it.  
Snuggled up between Peter and Elizabeth and with Satchmo curled up on the floor next to the bed, Neal finally felt safe and when the thought of the scary man knocking on the door crossed his mind, he no longer felt scared since he knew he would be protected.  
He fell asleep within minutes and slept soundly through the night.

The next morning Elizabeth made some pancakes, knowing how excited he had been to eat pancakes at Sara's house.  
Neal happily ate as many pancakes as possible, thinking that Mr. Ellis' pancakes couldn't possibly be better than Elizabeth's pancakes.  
After breakfast, the phone rang and Neal got to talk to Sara.  
The Burkes had been right when they said that Sara wouldn't be mad, the girl was in fact almost in tears because she felt so much guilt.  
She had woken up last night and had been knocking on her wall but since Neal had froze, she hadn't seen any reaction and thought that he was asleep so she stopped and went back to sleep.  
Neal managed to calm her down and quickly accepted her apology.  
They also decided to try to have another sleepover again soon.  
But the next time there would be no scary stories.

 **Author's Note 2: I'm not that good at coming up with scary stories so I simply chose two stories that scared me as a child.  
The first one is a story that my dad swore happened to him and the second one was my best friend who told me several times, I decided to be awake until midnight one night and just like Sara my friend knocked on the wall and scared me. I still need to get revenge on her for that one.**

 **Also someone told me a while back that if I wrote my cat Tellus into the story then he might stop hindering me from writing.  
Update: it didn't work he's still biting my pens and lying on my computer but now he's smug too.**


	4. Meeting the grandparents

**Author's Note: I decided to go with Peter's parents for a start, simply because they're not in the show which made it easier for me to create my own images of them.**

 **I have a busy couple of days ahead of me so I really wanted to get this chapter out before that, therefore I apologize if it seems rushed and also for any potential mistakes.**

MEETING THE GRANDPARENTS

Neal quickly noticed that something was different this morning.  
The adults would normally happily talk about their day or something they read in the newspaper but today they were both quiet.  
They kept looking at each other, having one of their silent conversations that Neal could never understand, and the once in a while glancing over at him.  
He started to get nervous and he mentally went through everything that he'd done the past couple of days, trying to figure out if he had done something wrong.  
Finally Peter decided to break the uncomfortable silence by clearing his throat and Neal froze.  
He slowly looked up at the agent and relaxed as he realized that Peter didn't look disappointed, which he usually did if Neal had done something wrong.  
Peter seemed to hesitate a little, glancing back at his wife who nodded encouragingly at him, before he finally decided to spit it out.

"My parents are coming to town this weekend. They're really excited to meet you."

Neal hadn't even thought about the fact that Peter and Elizabeth had parents and the adults hadn't even mentioned them before.  
When he didn't answer Peter seemed to get even more nervous.

"They're your grandparents...you know what grandparents are right?"

Elizabeth chuckled, amused over his nervousness, while Neal nodded.  
He knew what grandparents were even if he didn't have too much of an experience with them.  
He knew that his mother's parents had passed away long before he was even born, he could remember his mommy speaking very fondly of them and telling him stories about their lives.  
Neal didn't know anything about James' father but he did have vague memories of James' mother from when he was really young.  
He couldn't remember much about her except that she'd had dark hair with grey stripes in it, that she had a pale face that never wore a smile and that she was angry all the time.  
He didn't know who she had been angry at, if it had been him, James or if she had simply been mad at the world, but he did remember being terrified of her.  
Every time she came to their apartment, he had hid somewhere while James and his mother had been yelling at each other.  
She had visited them once in a while for the first years of his life but then suddenly, just a short while before his dad had left, she had just stopped showing up and Neal had no idea if she had passed away or if she just didn't want to see them any longer.  
He really hoped that Peter's parents wouldn't be angry like her.

"Are you okay with meeting them, Neal?"  
Peter asked and when Neal eventually nodded, he seemed to finally relax.

Once he arrived at school, he immediately told Sara about the upcoming visit with his new grandparents.  
"What are your grandparents like?"  
"Daddy's parents are the best! They always give me candy or toys and they always wanna play with me and my grandpa is really funny!"  
"What about your mommy's parents?"

Sara's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown as she proceeded to tell him about her other grandparents.  
Her mother's parents were no fun at all, they never had any gifts not even for birthdays or Christmas, and they seemed to always be in a bad mood, always scolding Sara for being too loud or too energetic.  
Neal really hoped that Peter's parents would be like Sara's father's parents and not like her mother's because they sounded no fun at all.  
Sara convinced him that Peter's parents were probably the fun kind and they spent the rest of the day discussing what they would be like.  
Neal stayed realistic and imagined that they would be kind and fun just like Peter while Sara imagined that his grandfather was a secret spy and his grandmother was a mad scientist that had created Peter in a lab.  
Over the next few days his excitement just grew and grew and he just couldn't wait for Saturday to arrive but then eventually Friday evening came along and just like a rollercoaster, his excitement dropped.  
He was in his bed, the adults had just said good night and left, when it happened.  
It had been one thing to wait for the visit while imagining what they were like but tomorrow he would actually have to meet them and there were a big chance that they were nothing at all like his mental picture of them.  
He had just assumed that they would be just as fun and kind as Peter because they were his parents but Sara's mom was the complete opposite of her parents.  
What if Peter's parents would be like them?  
Boring and always complaining about Neal being too much.  
Or worse what if they would be angry all the time and scare him just like James' mother?  
What if they would be really nice people but they wouldn't like him?  
His mental pictures of them were distorted and they turned into mean, angry people who didn't like him at all.  
It felt like an eternity passed before his exhausted body finally won over his anxious mind.

The morning came way too soon and Neal did not want to even get up, he wanted to just stay in bed for the rest of the day but of course Peter wouldn't let him.  
After refusing to get up, Peter had lifted him out of bed.

"Now we have to get you dressed."

He said but Neal crossed his arms, stomped his foot and protested loudly.  
If he was acting up then maybe they would cancel the visit just like that one time that he acted up and Elizabeth had threatened to cancel the play-date with Sara if he didn't behave.  
Peter tried his best to get Neal dressed but the boy made it impossible for him.  
The agent was getting really frustrated which made Neal feel bad, he had notice that the visit had already been stressing Peter out.

"Damn it, Neal!"

Peter swore and threw the shirt on the floor in frustration as Neal yet again refused to get out of his pyjamas.  
Even if he had long since stopped flinching every time Peter was irritated or got too close, knowing that the man would never hurt him, he still felt his heart speed up every time there was any anger directed towards him, especially when it was adults.  
The agent closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself down.

"Why are you being so difficult this morning? I thought you were excited to meet my parents?"

He asked in a calm tone.  
Neal bit his lip while looking down on his socks to avoid eye contact.

"I'm scared."

He admitted and Peter's expression softened.

"What are you scared of, buddy?"  
"I'm scared that they're going to be really boring or mean. James mommy was always angry and mean."

Peter put a finger under his chin and gently forced his head up so that their eyes would meet.

"My parents are good people, I promise you that. If they hadn't been I wouldn't have let them see you even if they are family."

Neal felt a little calmed by that but is other fear still remained.

"What if they don't like me?"

He asked and Peter smiled.  
"Neal, I've told them all about you and they have wanted to meet you in person for a really long time now. They already love you, kid."

Even if Peter's words had helped him calm down and had helped him to both get dressed and go downstairs to eat breakfast, the fear still returned as soon as he was alone.  
Elizabeth had gone upstairs to fix the new bedroom, it had previously been a small room used for storage but after Neal took over their old guest room it had been turned into a new guest room.  
Peter had gone upstairs to change his shirt after he had accidentally spilled coffee all over himself, something that had caused both Neal and Elizabeth to giggle.  
He looked over at the backdoor, maybe if he was real quiet then he could sneak out and hide in the backyard and hide until Peter's parents had left or until he felt ready to meet them.  
He carefully crossed the room, mindful of every floorboard, and he was just reaching out for the door handle when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Not so fast, kiddo."

Peter said and Neal had to give up his plan.

"It's going to be okay."

Peter promised him again but the fear still remained.  
The doorbell rung and Neal immediately got up from the couch but not to answer it, instead he ran over to Elizabeth who was in the kitchen and hid behind her, something that caused her to laugh.  
Peter went to open the door while Satchmo was already by the door, waiting and barking impatiently.  
Neal could hear them talking, at least they didn't sound angry.  
He could hear Peter asking them to sit down on the couch before he came into the kitchen.  
With a little coaxing the agent managed to get Neal to leave Elizabeth and follow him out to the living room.

"You can stay close to me all the time."

Peter said as he grabbed his hand and led him out in the living room.  
On the couch were Peter's parents and their faces lit up when they saw him.  
Peter's mother was petite, she was probably a lot shorter than Elizabeth, and she had long brown hair that had been put in a tight bun.  
Her face was round and her chin a little pointy but he could see the similarities with Peter, they had the same eyes.  
Her thin lips had been coated with a dark lipstick and unlike James' mother she looked like she always smiled.  
His father was even more similar to Peter except his eyes were smaller, his face was rounder and he had a stubble, where the hair had started to grey.  
Peter's mother suddenly looked like she was going to cry and Neal got worried that something was wrong.  
Peter sat down on one of the armchairs and Neal got up in his lap, his eyes going between the people on the couch and his hands.

"He's a little shy."

Peter said and they both nodded.  
His mother's eyes seemed to be glued on Neal and he started to feel uncomfortable.

"You're even cuter in real life than in the pictures."

She commented and Neal could feel his cheeks flush.  
Elizabeth finally came into the room and Peter's mother stopped staring at him.  
Elizabeth put down a tray with a plate of cookies, four cookies and a glass of juice on it.  
While they ate the cookies, the adults were talking about their lives.  
Peter and Elizabeth talked about their jobs while Peter's parents updated them on how things were going at home, gossiping about some neighbour and talked about how their dog had recently been at the vet after a fight with a cat.  
Neal thought they had completely forgotten about him until Peter's mother suddenly let out an excited noise and looked at him.

"I have a surprise for you, sweetie."

She said and reached for her purse, she dug around in it for a couple of seconds before she found what she was looking for.  
An envelope was pulled out and she held it up for him to see.  
It was a regular white envelope and she had written his name on it with big, blue letters.  
Neal looked back at Peter who smiled and lifted him off his lap before giving him a gentle push.

"Go on."

He prompted and Neal slowly walked the steps between the armchair and the couch and took the envelope from her.

"Open it."

He got the envelope open and pulled out five tickets.  
Neal had no trouble reading the words on the tickets, he would recognize the title "The lion king" anywhere.

"I heard that The lion king is your favourite movie so I thought we would go to the cinema and watch the remake."

Neal looked at the tickets before looking at Peter and Elizabeth in disbelief.  
For weeks he had asked them to go see the movie but they had always said no.

"What do you say?"

Elizabeth prompted and Neal looked back at Peter's mother.

"Thank you."

He said and before he knew what he was doing he had thrown his arms around her in a hug.

"Thank you!"  
He repeated.

It wasn't until they were in the line for popcorn that Neal learned that Peter's mother was a huge fan of The lion king too.

"Who's your favourite?"  
"Simba."  
"Mine too!"

Both of them had watched the movie so many times that hey had memorized it and they ended up in a long discussion about what the best parts of the movie were while the rest of them stood by their side with amused smiles.  
Once inside the movie theatre, Neal insisted that he would sit next to Peter's mother so that they could whisper to each other during the movie.  
He ended up between Elizabeth and Peter's mother while Peter and his father sat on the other side of his grandmother.  
The movie ended up being great, even if it couldn't beat the original, with some new scenes and new jokes.  
When they were walking out of the cinema, they immediately started a discussion again, comparing the original and the new movie.

After watching the movie, they went to a diner where they had some food and then they went back home where both Neal and Peter's mother insisted that they would watch the original Lion King.  
The others protested but they won in the end and they ended up watching the movie.  
As it was time for bed, Neal asked his new grandmother if she could read him his Lion King book and Peter groaned.

"Aren't you tired of The lion king by now?"

He asked but both of them gave him an "are you kidding" look before they went upstairs.  
Peter's dad followed them and sat down with his wife by Neal's bed.  
He was apparently really good at doing voices, so while his grandmother narrated the story, her husband did all of the dialogue.  
Neal laughed at his spot-on impression of Pumbaa and once they were done, he insisted that they would read it again but they unfortunately thought that once was enough.  
Once they had left, Peter and Elizabeth came into the room and said good night before they left him alone.  
Yet again he had a hard time falling asleep but this time it was because he was filled to the brink with happiness and excitement for tomorrow.

Despite his troubles falling asleep, he woke up early and got up, ready to start the day but was disappointed when he realized that he was the only one awake.  
He thought about what to do and came up with the idea to make his new grandparents breakfast.  
Neal thought about doing it on his own but since he didn't know how to make coffee he decided to wake someone up.  
After some debating he decided to wake Elizabeth since Peter could be a little grumpy in the mornings.  
He sneaked into the room, shushing the dog who had gotten up to greet him, and then he walked over to Elizabeth and carefully shook her awake.  
She groaned and looked over at the alarm clock.

"Neal it's still early, go back to bed."  
"I wanna make breakfast for grandma and grandpa."

He said and Elizabeth looked like she was thinking about it.

"Please mommy."

Neal said, hoping that him calling her mommy would make her say yes and he was right.  
She quietly got out of bed and together they walked downstairs to make some breakfast.  
Neal decided that they would make some pancakes and with Elizabeth's instructions he made the batter all on his own, something he was incredibly proud over.  
By the time they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, the house was filled with a lovely smell of pancakes and coffee.  
Neal ran over to the stairs where Peter's parents were, both of them still looking tired.  
He quickly grabbed each of their hands and even if the elderly couple looked surprised they didn't protest.  
Neal led them to the kitchen table where Elizabeth had just put down the plate of pancakes.

"We made you breakfast! I made the pancakes all on my own!"

He said and the couple smiled at him.

"Thank you, sweetie."

Peter's mother said before she let go of his hand to get some coffee to wake her up.

"You're really talented. Maybe you should become a chef someday."

Peter's dad praised and Neal's smile grew.

"Why don't you go and wake up your dad?"

Neal nodded before letting go of his hand and running upstairs, pretending not to hear Elizabeth telling him to not run.  
Peter was still asleep when Neal got into the room and he threw himself on the bed and shook the man, a little more rough than he had with Elizabeth.  
Peter groaned but opened his eyes.

"Pancakes?"

Was the first thing he asked as the smell reached him.

"I made them all on my own!"

He said before gently pushing Peter.

"Get up and eat so that I can play with grandma and grandpa!"

Peter smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"I told you everything would be fine, didn't I?"

Neal nodded, feeling stupid for even being scared in the first place.  
Peter yawned and closed his eyes again, something that caused Neal to groan.  
The longer Peter took, the longer it would take for them to finish breakfast and the longer it would take before he could play with his grandparents.  
They were going home this afternoon so he had very limited time with them.

"Get up, old man!"

Neal ordered and Peter opened his eyes and gave him an offended look.

"I'm not old."

He answered and when Neal insisted that he was, he sat up so that he could tickle Neal until the he gave up and admitted that Peter wasn't old.  
After the tickling had stopped, the two of them walked downstairs, ready for another fun day with Neal's new grandparents.


	5. Happy Father's Day!

**Author's Note: I have been drowning in school work lately so I haven't been able to even think about writing but since it's Father's Day today (in Sweden at least) I decided to write a quick chapter.**  
 **I'm currently visiting my brother and celebrating my birthday (which is on the 13th) so I didn't have much time to write this and barely no time to edit it.**  
 **Hopefully you will like it anyway! :)**

 **Also I just had to include the new Joker movie...simply because I watched it last week and absolutely loved it and I'm going to watch it again tomorrow.**

 **Okay enough from me, I hope you will like the chapter despite it being written in a hurry and I will try to get another update out soon!**

Happy Father's Day!

Neal had never been the best at keeping track of dates, that's why he had no idea that Father's Day was coming up until he saw Sara making a card in their art class.

"Who's that for?"

He asked, curiously, as he watched her colour in a car that she had drawn.

"It's for my daddy, for Father's Day."

Sara answered and Neal froze, feeling bad for not knowing.  
What if Sara hadn't told him and Father's Day had passed without him giving Peter anything or even wishing him a happy father's day?  
That would probably make Peter feel unappreciated.  
Neal looked down at his drawing, where he had started to draw the characters from The Lion King, and decided to put it aside and start on a card for Peter.  
It wasn't the first time that he had made a Father's Day card, he had made cards for James before, hoping to at least get a smile from the man, but no matter how much time he spent on the cards he always watched it end up in the trash can.  
At least he knew that this time his card would be appreciated, the Burkes had never thrown away a single drawing that he had made, the newest ones were covering the fridge, while the older ones had been collected by Elizabeth and put into a folder.  
He started to draw his family, making sure to put Peter in the centre, while Sara started to talk about what she and her parents were going to do on Sunday.

"We're going to a restaurant and we're gonna go bowling and we're gonna go to a car show."  
"You said cars were boring."

Neal pointed out.  
Sara's dad loved cars and loved to talk about them, which always bored Sara to death.

"Yeah, but daddy likes them and it's his day."

She answered with a shrug before she left their table to go and fetch something.  
For James Father's Day had meant that his wife and son had to do every single little thing that he asked for and they were not allowed to even think about saying no.  
He had always used it as an excuse to boss them around more than usual, so Neal hadn't even considered that you could do fun activities on Father's day.  
He thought about what Peter would like and since he wasn't that good at writing yet, he got a scrap piece of paper and started to draw things on it.  
At first he drew a TV with sports on it, knowing that Peter enjoyed watching sports whenever he had a day off, and then he started to draw more things until he had a whole day planned out.  
Now he just needed to get Elizabeth to help him to actually make it happen.

Peter was the one to pick him up from school and it was almost impossible to contain his excitement.  
He was scared of accidentally saying something that would give his plan away so instead he stayed quiet, something that Peter found very suspicious since he normally talked non-stop when he was picked up from school.

"You okay back there, buddy?"

Peter asked and looked at him in the rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, just tired."

Neal answered and looked away.  
Peter didn't say anything more but he kept glancing back at him, sensing that something was going on, and it was at times like this that Neal hated to be the kid of an FBI agent.  
His intuition really made it hard to keep secrets from him.  
Once at home Neal shut himself in his room to continue to work on the card and once he heard Peter leave the house for his walk with Satchmo, Neal ran out into the hall and called for Elizabeth.  
He explained everything in a hurry, scared that Peter would return any second now, but Elizabeth managed to understand everything despite him talking way too fast and once he was done explaining his plan, she wore a huge smile on her face.  
"That sounds perfect, sweetie. I'm sure he will love it."

Sunday finally came along and Neal woke up when it was still dark outside.  
Unable to fall asleep again, because of the excitement, he got up and put some finishing touches to his card,  
He had spent the past couple of days working on it, making sure that it was the best card that he had ever made.  
After what felt like decades, he felt that he could finally wake Elizabeth up and carefully walked into their room, hushing the dog who happily greeted him.  
Neal shook Elizabeth awake and together with the dog they all silently left the room.  
Elizabeth started to make breakfast while Neal, with some help from Elizabeth, started on the blueberry muffins, which he knew was Peter's favourite.  
When it was all done they placed the breakfast and a couple of still warm muffins on a tray and brought it up the stairs.  
Satchmo ran ahead of them and decided that it was his job to wake Peter up and he did so with a loud bark.  
Neal giggled as Peter practically jumped up, looking very startled by the sudden, loud noise.  
He then spotted them and the tray in Elizabeth's hands.

"What's this?"

Peter asked in confusion while Elizabeth placed the tray on the bed and Neal silently handed him the card.  
Despite knowing that his card would be appreciated, he suddenly felt very nervous, wondering if it would actually be appreciated and if he should have spent even more time on it.  
The drawing depicted Peter standing in the middle proudly showing the FBI badge in his hand, while Elizabeth was standing on one side of him with her arm around his shoulders and Neal was on his other side, holding his hand. He had also included Satchmo who was sitting by their feet with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.  
With the help of Elizabeth he had written 'Happy Father's Day Peter! You're the best dad ever love Neal' inside the card and he had drawn some flowers, hearts and stars around the text just to make it look a little prettier.  
After what felt like ages, Peter looked up and his brown eyes were now filled with tears.

"This is amazing."

He said and looked at the card again before putting it aside.

"Come here."

He said as he opened his arms and Neal happily obliged and went over to him, giving him a big hug.

"I love you, kid."

The agent said and placed a kiss on the top of his head.

"I love you too."

Neal almost felt like crying too.  
When their moment was over Neal pointed at the tray.

"Look I made you muffins."  
Neal said and they both laughed as Peter, after realizing that it was his favourite, quickly grabbed one and practically inhaled it.

After breakfast Peter spent the morning watching a baseball game on TV with a cold beer in his hand.  
At first Neal had been very anxious every time he saw the adults drink some type of alcohol but with time he had learned that it was a big difference between when James was drinking and when the Burkes or Mozzie were drinking.  
When his first beer were out, Neal quickly ran to the fridge to get him another one and Peter smiled and thanked him.  
That was the big difference with James and Peter.  
James had forced him to do things for him without ever even thanking him while Neal volunteered to do things for Peter and he was always rewarded with a thanks which caused him to feel appreciated.  
After the game had ended they all went to the park together to play catch.  
Neal wasn't a big fan of the activity, he had never been the physical kind and would rather do something creative, but he knew Peter liked it and therefore it was a perfect activity for his day.  
While they played catch, Elizabeth played fetch with Satchmo who happily chased after the stick.  
At one point though Peter accidentally threw the ball too far which caused the dog to go after the ball instead.

"Give me the ball, Satch."

Peter said but the dog just wagged his tail and avoided his master.  
Satchmo found it quite amusing when they tried to get the ball back and decided to turn it into a game where the humans chased after him and tried to get the ball back.  
They tried their best, trying to circle the dog but Satchmo managed to avoid getting caught every time.  
Eventually the humans got tired and they had to admit defeat.

They spent some time at home, playing some board games before the doorbell rang and Peter looked confused as June walked through the door, not sure how she fit into the schedule that Neal had created.

"We should get going if we want to get there on time."

June said, which only caused more confusion.

"Where are we going?"

Peter asked but all he got was three identical, cryptic smiles.  
June volunteered to sit in the back seat with Neal, something that she started to regret after a couple of minutes since the kid wanted to play a very intense game of rock, paper, scissors.

"We're here!"

Elizabeth announced and Peter, who had been keeping his eyes on the game in the back-seat, looked up and realized that they had arrived at the movie theatre.  
He got out of the car, still confused, before he stopped in front of all the movie posters and he connected the dots.  
For the past couple of weeks he had talked about he wanted to watch Joker but it had never happened, until now apparently.  
He looked back at his family, just to get a confirmation on what he was thinking and they nodded at him.

"I heard you talking about it, Peter!"

Neal exclaimed excitedly, he had hear him say to Elizabeth several times that they should go see it but something always got in the way and no plans had ever been made.

"Me and June are gonna watch another movie."

He then said and pointed to a kid-friendly movie that were going to play in another theatre.  
They walked inside and June insisted on paying for everyone's snacks, giving the excuse that she didn't have her own dad to spoil, so she wanted to spoil the best dad she knew instead.

When the movie was over Peter and Elizabeth walked out to find June and Neal waiting for them, their movie having a shorter run time.  
They were sitting on a bench and June was sitting perfectly still while Neal was drawing a portrait of her in a small notebook that June had brought, knowing that they had to wait and that letting Neal draw was the best way to keep him entertain.

"Neal"

Elizabeth scolded lightly as she saw the drawing of June.  
Neal had decided to draw her portrait but to give her a silly face instead of the serious expression that she actually wore.  
They all laughed about it though and June asked to keep it and put it up on her fridge.

"Did you love the movie?"

Neal asked Peter, thinking that if the movie wasn't good then it would ruin his plan to make Peter's day as good as possible, but luckily Peter nodded and said that he loved it.  
They left the cinema and went to one of Peter's favourite restaurants before they all returned to the house and said goodbye to June.  
To end the day, Peter got to choose a movie to watch and he chose to watch Peter Pan.

Neal only lasted for a couple of minutes, since he was exhausted from their busy day, and Peter only lasted a little longer before he fell asleep as well.  
Elizabeth looked over at them, Peter still holding the remote in his hand and Neal snuggled up under his arm.  
She quietly got up and took a couple of photos, from a few different angles, before she gently nudged Peter awake, realizing that he would have a serious neck pain if he continued to sleep like that.  
The agent looked around him in confusion before he saw the movie playing and realized that he had fallen asleep.

"We should get him to bed."

She said quietly and Peter nodded before he carefully got up and then lifted the child into his arms.  
Neal stirred a little but quickly settled when he pressed his head against Peter's chest.  
Peter put the kid into his bed and tucked him in.  
Just as he was planted a kiss on the boy's forehead, Neal spoke in a tired, groggy voice.

"Did you have a good day, daddy?"  
"The best."

Neal gave him a small smile before he turned to a more comfortable position and fell asleep again.  
Peter walked over to the doorway and put his arm around Elizabeth.

"Thanks for today, hon."  
"Don't thank me, it was all Neal."

They both turned to the kid and watched him with matching smiles on their faces.

"We were incredibly lucky to end up with a kid like him."

Peter commented and Elizabeth agreed.

"I can't wait for Mother's day."


	6. The New Girl

**Author's Note: I finally got a chapter up woop!**  
 **I'm currently reading 2 very intense university courses at once and that paired with my mental health issues has lead to me being completely burned out.**  
 **I've been wanting to update for a long time now but I've just not had the energy or mental capacity but I finally managed to do it so I'm proud of myself.**

 **I unfortunately don't have the time to spend editing it, so I apologize for any mistakes that I've missed.**

THE NEW GIRL

It was Thursday afternoon when Mrs. Fisher told the class that they would get a new classmate next week.  
The excitement spread through the classroom and everyone forgot about what they were doing and started talking about the new classmate.  
Neal was the only one who wasn't even a bit excited, instead he just dreaded the new addition to the class.  
Since Curtis Hagen had left, it had all gotten a lot better in their class and Neal was getting along with everyone.  
He feared that another bully would show up or a kid that in some way or another would ruin the good atmosphere.  
The new classmate were everything the others were talking about for the rest of the day and when it was time to go home, Sara was so distracted talking about it with another girl that she didn't even say goodbye to Neal.  
The excitement continued on Friday and Neal, who had come to love being in school, kept staring at the clock, wishing the time would go faster.  
Over the weekend he forgot all about the new kid because he was kept busy.  
Elizabeth and Peter had decided to go on a date night which meant that Neal got to spend some time with Mozzie, even if Peter hadn't been too excited to hear that Mozzie was the only available babysitter.  
Peter had actually started to like Mozzie but he simply didn't trust him.  
The agent was of course right not to trust Mozzie, when they arrived home Neal wasn't in bed like he should have been, instead they walked right in on a lesson about how to pick a lock.  
Elizabeth had just laughed at the situation and offered Mozzie some wine while Peter had loudly scolded the man.  
He did not like the mental image of an older Neal and Mozzie pulling off cons together.

When Monday came, Neal arrived to school to find that his classmates weren't playing like they normally would, instead they were all huddled together by the classroom entrance, no one wanting to miss the arrival of the new kid.  
Neal spotted Sara and walked over to her.  
He asked her if she wanted to play with him but she shook her head no, so Neal stood next to her, not wanting to play alone.  
Sara suddenly bumped his shoulder and then leaned in closer to him.

"I met her."

She said, whispering so that none of the others would hear.

"She's my new neighbour."

He immediately felt threatened by the fact that Sara and the new girl lived so close to each other, because if they became friends it meant that they could play together every single day if they wanted to.  
Sara didn't seem to notice that Neal felt uncomfortable about the whole ordeal, instead she just proceeded to tell him that the new girl and her family had moved into the previously empty house at the end of Sara's street.  
It felt like they stood there forever before it was time to go inside and the class felt disappointed since no new kid had showed up.  
Five minutes later the door opened and a stressed man came inside, apologizing to Mrs. Fisher before he ushered his daughter into the classroom.  
Mrs. Fisher had a few quiet words with the father before he left and closed the door behind him.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

The girl nodded before she confidently walked to the front of the class, not showing any signs of being nervous.  
Her name was Alex Hunter and when she sat down behind Sara and the girls happily greeted each other, Neal knew that she would in fact ruin things.

When it was time for recess, Neal waited patiently while Sara and the other kids swarmed Alex.  
He thought that Sara would only talk with Alex for a while and then come back but she didn't, in fact she seemed to have completely forget that Neal was waiting for her.  
Eventually he pushed through the crowd of classmates to get to Sara, who was standing next to Alex looking very proud to already know the new kid.  
He didn't understand what was so special about a new classmate anyway, no one had ever shown this kind of excitement when he was new.  
Of course the others had been afraid of Curtis but he still thought their excitement was a little over the top.  
Sara spotted him and grinned before she pointed at him.

"Alex this is my friend Neal"

She said and they quickly said 'hi' to each other before Neal looked at his friend.

"Wanna go to the swings?"  
"No, I wanna talk to Alex"

Neal nodded before pushing through the crowd again and going to the swings alone, trying to ignore the hurt he was feeling.  
He tried to get Sara's attention throughout the rest of the day but she was suddenly completely uninterested in everything they used to do together.  
She played with Alex at recess, sat next to the girl in lunch and seemed to only talk to her or about her.  
When it was time for art class, Neal thought that he would finally get to talk to Sara because they had started a project together last week.  
They were making a movie poster and they had decided to make a movie poster with Satchmo and Sara's cat Tellus.  
The story of their "movie" was that the two animals were FBI agents just like Peter and they were catching bad humans.  
Unfortunately now that Alex had joined their class they were an odd number which meant that one pair would have to turn into a trio.  
Sara of course volunteered when Mrs. Fisher asked who Alex could join and soon the presence of Alex ruined even art class for him.  
He tried to communicate with the girls but it was really hard to get a word in and half of the time they weren't even listening to him.  
Before he knew it the entire plot for their movie had changed and now it was instead two FBI agent cats, Sara's cat and Alex's cat, who were chasing after dogs.  
Satchmo who had previously been wearing a badge was now dressed as a robber.

"It's two against one"  
Alex said when he tried to protest the change and Sara decided to agree with Alex.

Over the course of the week it only seemed to get worse.  
Sara only wanted to play with her new friend, they always sat next to each other at lunch and Sara seemed to completely forget that Neal even existed.  
At home the adults quickly realized that something was wrong but Neal kept quiet, not wanting to tell them that school had gotten tough again.  
The weekend came and he momentarily forgot about the whole thing until a new school week started and he was painfully reminded again.  
Neal was swinging with two other boys, who he had played with now that Sara was playing with Alex, while looking at the girls who were sitting on the ground, talking about something.  
Alex suddenly got up and ran inside, probably to use the bathroom, and Neal saw his chance.  
He jumped off the swing and walked over to her.

"Hi, Neal"

She greeted happily as if she hadn't been close to ignoring him for a week.  
He sat down on the ground as well and looked over at the door to make sure Alex wasn't on her way back.

"Can we play together?"

He asked, figuring that there were no use beating around the bush.

"Alex-"  
"You only play with Alex"

He interrupted and Sara looked a little guilty.

"We can play next recess?"  
"Promise?"  
"I promise"

Neal felt happy with that, at least he could get one recess with his best friend.  
He got up of the ground and walked back to the swings.  
Neal spent his next lesson with the smaller group.  
The teacher said that he was making a great progress in his reading and writing and that he might soon be on the same level as his peers.  
As soon as they were told they could pack up their things, Neal hurried to grab all his stuff and then run back to their regular classroom and put everything in his bag before he went outside.  
The smile on his face disappeared when he saw that the rest of his class had already made it outside and that Sara and Alex were playing together in the wooden playhouse.  
For a second he thought about just giving up and joining the kids playing football but then he decided that Sara would have to live up to her promise.  
He marched over to the playhouse where the girls seemed to be pretending to be bakers.

"Sara, can we play now?"

He asked and Sara looked up from the plastic container, that she had filled with sand and pretended it was dough.

"I'm playing with Alex but-"  
"Sara, you promised!"

He whined and Sara looked down on the ground but didn't say anything.  
Alex looked at the two of them before she put her plastic container down and decided to physically place herself in between Sara and Neal.

"She doesn't wanna play with you."

She said and crossed her arms to appear tougher.  
Neal felt frustrated that Sara wouldn't play with him even for one recess, they were best friends for crying out loud, but he was even more frustrated that Alex thought that she could just show up and steal Sara from him.  
Neal took a step to the side, so that he could see Sara again, and then he reminded her once more that she had made a promise to him.  
Alex took a step to the side as well and was yet again blocking Sara from his view.

"She wants to play with me, I'm more fun and I'm not afraid of ghost stories."

Neal froze, he couldn't believe that Sara had told Alex about their failed sleepover.  
Sara lifted her head again and walked to stand next to Alex, her cheeks now sporting a shade of pink.

"I'm sorry, Neal."

Neal felt like crying but he resisted the tears, because he wasn't going to cry in front of the girls.

"Sara is MY best friend, now."

Alex announced from out of nowhere, looking awfully smug.  
He went from being close to tears to being full of anger in less than a second.  
He didn't even know what he was doing, one second he was just glaring at Alex and then in the next he pushed the girl so hard that she almost fell over.  
Neal immediately regretted the action and was just about to apologize to Alex when she pushed him back.  
He stumbled out of the playhouse but managed to not fall.  
The push made the regret disappear and instead he was just fueled by anger and jealousy.  
Alex seemed just as angry because she came out of the playground and pushed him again.  
Neal pushed back and then within seconds both kids were on the ground physically fighting while Sara stood in the playhouse's door opening, keeping a safe distance, yelling for them to stop.  
A teacher heard Sara's yells and when he saw the fight, he started running towards the kids but before he could even reach them, the fight ended.  
Neal had accidentally crashed his elbow into Alex face and the sight of blood, running from her nose, caused him to regain control of emotions and realize what he had done.

"Alex, I'm sorry."

He said but the girl just glared at him.

"I hate you."

She grumbled just as the teacher reached them and helped Alex get to the school nurse.  
Sara glared at him too, as if this entire thing had been just fault, before she stormed off to join her new best friend at the nurse's office.  
Neal was left, sitting on the ground, consumed by guilt and feat for what his adoptive parents would say when they found out.  
He slowly got up from the ground while he felt the impulse to do what he always did in pressed situations, run.  
Neal actually considered it.  
He remembered when he had pushed Curtis and had ran away, it had of course led to him being in trouble either way but maybe this time he could stay with Mozzie for a while and wait until the adults weren't disappointed any longer.  
Neal actually considered it but his plan was foiled by Mrs Fisher who had seen the commotion and had now joined him.  
He looked up at his teacher and felt a knot in his stomach when he saw the disappointment in her face, if it was so hard to see her disappointment then he couldn't even imagine how hard it would be to look at Peter and Elizabeth's faces.  
Neal got up and he yet again considered running but Mrs. Fisher seemed to anticipate this and quickly grabbed his arm.  
Mrs. Fisher had brought him inside and given him a lecture on why fighting wasn't okay, which made him slightly frustrated because it seemed like he was the only one being lectured when there were two people in the fight.  
She didn't feel the need to get his parents here right away but she did contact Elizabeth and told her that she wanted to have a chat with them after school.  
When Alex and Sara came back from the nurse, Alex with paper in her nose to stop the bleeding, Mrs. Fisher made them all sit down before trying to get any more information about the situation.  
None of them would speak up though and it ended up just being their teacher trying to make them friends again.  
Her words did nothing though because for the rest of the day the girls avoided him as if he had a contagious disease and Alex seemed to constantly send him dirty look.

The day ended way too quickly and soon he found himself waiting in the classroom, trying to look at everything but his teacher.  
Soon the door opened and he saw that both Peter and Elizabeth had decided to show up.  
Peter looked over at him and he immediately looked down on his shoes, partly because of shame and partly to avoid seeing the disappointment.  
He listened as Mrs. Fisher told them that she had noticed the tension between him and the girls and then the fight that had taken place.  
It felt like forever before the teacher finally felt finished and allowed them to leave.  
Neal spent the entire way home looking at his shoes and keeping his mouth shut, even if the adults tried to get him to talk.  
When they arrived home they continued their efforts to get him to open up but with no luck.  
Eventually they decided that he could sit in the corner and think about today.  
He wasn't sure if the punishment was a strategy from them, if it was it certainly worked.  
With nothing to distract him, he did start to think about the day and the hurt he had felt when he found out that Sara had been talking about him to Alex came back.  
Then it was joined by the hurt of Alex saying that she was Sara's best friend and then he started to think about last week and how much it truly hurt to have his best friend not being his best friend anymore.  
Sara had been such a good friend and now he had just been replaced.  
He kept thinking about it and the more he thought about it, the more it hurt.  
It hurt so much that it felt like he could barely breathe and once the first tear had escaped his eye, the sobs started.  
A couple of strong arms suddenly lifted him up and he instantly threw his arms around Peter's neck.

"Sara don't wanna play with me...she just plays with Alex"

Neal said in between the sobs and Peter hugged him a little tighter.  
When he had calmed down, Peter placed him on the couch and he was handed hot chocolate by Elizabeth.  
They sat down on either side of him while he started telling them everything that had happened since Alex showed up.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner, sweetie?"

Elizabeth asked and Neal shrugged his shoulder.

"I didn't want to bother you."  
"Hey, you know you can tell us everything, kid."

Peter said and Neal nodded, he knew that but it was harder to actually tell them.  
He knew very well by now that they were nothing like James but the insecurities were still there.

"Am I gonna get punished?"  
"Well there's got to be some consequences for your action, buddy."  
"But it wasn't my fault."

Neal protested while he wondered if Alex parents would punish her or if they would just feel bad for her.

"It doesn't matter how upset you are, it's never okay to hurt someone."

In the end they decided that he wouldn't be allowed to watch TV for a week, which was a punishment he could live with, and that he had to apologize to Alex, which he wasn't too happy about.  
Neal looked up at Peter, flashing him his puppy eyes.

"I really am sick."

He insisted but Peter just shook her head with an amused smile on her face.

"You're not fooling me, kiddo."

Neal had tried to act as sick as possible when Peter came to wake him up, trying to stay home from school so that he wouldn't have to face Alex and Sara.  
He had insisted that he had a fever and had planned on holding the thermometer against the light-bulb, like he had seen a kid do in a movie, but Peter had stayed in the room and watched him.

"I am sick!"

He repeated and Peter just sighed and looked at his watch.

"We're going to be late."

Neal didn't budge so Peter simply picked him up and carried him downstairs.

"He says he's sick."

The agent informed his wife with a smile.  
Elizabeth looked at him with concern written all over her face and he thought he had managed to trick her.

"Oh, that's too bad. Then you can't come with us for the dinner at June's tonight."

Dinner at June's were always fun, partly because he got to meet June and Mozzie but also because they always played fun games together.

"I wanna to June!"  
"If you're sick then you should stay home and rest."  
Neal sighed as he realized that the adults had outsmarted him and he grabbed his spoon and started to eat his cereal.

There was a tension in the room as Neal yet again found himself sitting in a room with Mrs. Fisher, Sara and Alex.  
Elizabeth had called and told the teacher everything that Neal had said and she had felt the need to get the kids to talk it out.  
Alex was sitting with her arms crossed, looking angry over the fact that she had to be here, and Sara was looking down at her hands.  
None of them would speak, so Mrs. Fisher had to step up to the plate again.

"Sara, I think that it is wonderful that you and Alex became such good friends so fast but don't you think Neal feels a little left out when you only play with Alex?"

She asked and Sara looked up at Neal with a guilty look on her face.  
It seemed that she had been thinking this whole thing over since yesterday.

"It made me sad."

Neal admitted and Sara's eyes filled up with tears.

"I'm sorry."

She said before she flew up from her chair and more or less threw herself at Neal, almost causing him to fall off his chair.  
Sara hugged him tightly while she kept apologizing, saying that she hadn't even thought about his feelings and Neal looked over at Alex.  
At first he planned to be smug about it but then he realized that despite her stoic stance, Alex's eyes looked really sad.

"You can play together all three."

Mrs. Fisher suggested and Sara nodded, excitingly.  
Neal looked over at Alex and they both nodded which made the teacher feel like she had resolved the conflict and let them go and enjoy what was left of the recess.  
Sara ran ahead of them while Alex gave Neal a serious look.

"I don't like you, Neal."

She said.

"I don't like you either."

He responded, even if he felt like he could grow to like her.  
Alex glared at him one last time before they both went to the swings were Sara was waiting for them.  
They may not be friends but at least for now they had a truce for Sara's sake.

 **Author's Note 2: Just wanted to say that I am not trying to make Sara mean here or something.**  
 **This entire chapter was based on what happened to me when I was around 10-11, when my best friend (who's still my best friend) was so obsessed with her new friend that she completely forgot about me. It was awfully painful but it happens. I just wanted to make it clear that I did not intend to make her mean or something :)**


	7. Man Down

**Author's Note: Okay I finally managed to update (woop)**  
 **Unfortunately I, yet again, did not have the time to edit this properly because I am very stressed right now but wanted to get this up before I have to focus on my next deadline.**

 **I actually had no idea what to write for this (that being said if anyone have any good ideas pls let me know) but I watched another show where a character got shot and I felt like writing this.**  
 **I know next to nothing about medical stuff, I've just used what I've read in other fics or seen on shows so there will probably be inaccuracies.**

MAN DOWN

Peter's day started out as any other, he woke up, took Satchmo for a walk and then had breakfast.  
Elizabeth rushed off to an early meeting and Peter dropped Neal off at school before he went to the office.  
Once at the bureau they continued working on a case and thanks to an informant, they got a location where their suspect were working on another forgery.  
It was supposed to be a simple arrest, Peter and Jones were supposed to go inside, arrest the guy for his multiple forgeries and then be back at the bureau before lunch.  
The suspect, unsurprisingly, decided to run when they came inside but he barely made it a meter before Jones tackled him to the ground.  
Jones was trying to put handcuffs on the struggling man while Peter stood by, ready to assist if needed.  
The other agent had just managed to get the cuffs on when a man suddenly emerged from another room and Peter instinctively raised his hands when he saw the gun in the man's hand.  
According to the informant, their suspect was supposed to be alone so Peter had holstered his own gun, believing that it wouldn't be needed.  
The guy with the gun started to shout at them to let his friend go, his shaking voice revealing that he was nervous.  
Jones barely had the time to register the man's presence before the nervous guy decided that they weren't moving fast enough and he aimed the gun right at Jones' head.  
Without even thinking, Peter leaped forward in order to push Jones aside.  
A gunshot rang out and for a second Peter thought that they had made it until he shifted slightly and felt an intense, burning pain in his chest.  
'Well that's not good' he thought to himself before he collapsed on the ground.  
He could feel Jones moving and then another gunshot was heard and he feared that Jones had been shot too until the other agent appeared in his sight of vision, holding a phone in his hand and shouting something about an ambulance.  
Peter let out a loud groan as Jones put his hand on the wound, pressing down on it.

"Stay with me, Peter. The ambulance is on the way."

Jones said, trying and failing to keep his voice steady.  
He tried to stay awake but he felt himself slip away more and more.  
A sudden thought appeared in his mind, what if he died and would never see his family again?  
He needed to let Elizabeth and Neal know how much he loved them.  
Peter opened his mouth and tried to tell Jones but the only sound that came out was a painful grunt.  
Jones lips were moving but he couldn't really make out what he was saying.  
His last thought before he slipped away into unconsciousness was that he wished he had given Elizabeth an extra kiss and that he would've hugged Neal a little tighter.

-

There was a knock on the door, interrupting the peaceful music that was playing.  
For today's art class, Mrs. Fisher had put on some music and told everyone to draw whatever the music made them feel or think of.  
Another teacher walked into the room and quietly made her way over to Mrs. Fisher, Neal lifted his head for a second to give her an annoyed glance before he continued with his drawing.  
Many of the other students had a hard time focusing and was trying to whisper to their friends or were fidgeting but Neal managed to emerge himself in his work completely.

"Neal."

Mrs. Fisher interrupted his process and he looked up, jumping slightly as she had made her way over to his desk without him noticing.

"You need to pack your things, your mom is here to pick you up."

She told him, in a low voice, and he frowned, no one had told him that he was going home early today.

"Why are you leaving now?"

Sara asked him while he gathered his things but he just shrugged, he couldn't even guess.  
He whispered a goodbye to Sara, and even said goodbye to Alex, before he left the classroom.  
Elizabeth was standing in the corridor outside the classroom and Neal sighed when he approached her.

"We were drawing, 'Lizbeth. I was having fun!"

He whined to make sure she knew that she had interrupted his favourite class of the day.  
Elizabeth forced a small smile and just then Neal noticed that her eyes were filled with unshed tears and she was holding an arm around herself, in a self-comforting way.  
He looked up at the teacher who had interrupted the class and followed him outside, and noticed that even she looked sad which caused him to get a bad feeling.  
Before he had the chance to ask what was going on, Elizabeth crouched down in front of him.

"Your dad got shot today and-"

She informed him, her voice breaking, before pausing in order to control her emotions.  
At first Neal just frowned, he wondered how his dad had gotten shot in prison.  
He knew that prisoners weren't allowed weapons, so did the guards carry guns?  
Neal had no idea.  
Elizabeth tried to say something again but had to once again pause and that's when Neal realized that she wouldn't be this upset about James being shot.  
She wasn't talking about that dad.  
Peter and Elizabeth had recently started to refer to each other as "your dad" and "your mom" when talking to Neal to make it a little easier for him to get used to calling them mommy and daddy.  
As soon as it clicked which dad she was talking about, his mind flashed back to when Mozzie had been shot and had fought for his life and then he thought back to his mother's death.  
He didn't think he could handle losing Peter too and just the thought of it made it hard to even breathe.  
Tears filled up his eyes and Elizabeth reached out for him and pulled him in a tight hug.

"We're going to the hospital, okay?"

She said, her voice breaking yet again, which calmed him down because that meant that at least Peter wasn't dead...yet.  
"He's going to be okay."  
Elizabeth added and it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself of that too.

The drive to the hospital was painfully long, Elizabeth spent the entire ride trying not to cry, probably afraid that if she started to cry then she would break down completely, while Neal sat in the backseat, his mind constantly taking him back to Mozzie's shooting.  
When they arrived at the hospital they were told to wait in a smaller waiting room that was empty, apart from Diana and Jones.  
Diana got up to greet Elizabeth while Jones stayed seated, his head buried in his hands, looking absolutely defeated.  
There was a small playarea in the corner but Neal had no interest in playing right now, instead he just walked over to Jones.  
As he approached the agent lifted his head and he could see tears rolling down the man's cheeks.  
Neal had never seen Jones cry before and the sight made him feel even sadder.

"Hey buddy."

Jones greeted, his voice sounding weak, while he forced a small smile.  
The boy didn't answer, instead he more or less forced himself up onto Jones' lap and then put his arms around the agent's neck, hugging him tightly.

"He's going to be okay, Jones."

He said, mimicking Elizabeth's words from before.  
Jones put his arms around Neal and hugged him back, the agent's body shaking slightly as he started to cry again and Neal allowed the tears to fall from his eyes as well.

It felt like they sat their for an eternity, Neal remaining on Jones' lap while Elizabeth had allowed herself to cry as well and had been comforted by Diana, before a doctor finally came to see them.  
Neal had a hard time understanding everything the doctor said but he understood enough to know that there had been a surgery that went well and that Peter was going to be moved to a private room. They waited for a couple of minutes more before the doctor came back and allowed Elizabeth and Neal to go see him.  
The room was just down the hall from the waiting room but the walk there felt like it took hours.  
Neal had his hand tightly in Elizabeth's and when he stopped in the doorway, he forced her to a halt as well.  
He saw Peter in the hospital bed and for some reason it felt even scarier to see Peter like this than it had felt with Mozzie.  
Ever since he first met Peter, Neal had seen him as this big, brave and strong FBI agent but right now, in the bed surrounded by equipment and wires, he looked small and pale and nothing like his usual self.  
He felt like a different person.  
Elizabeth let go of his hand before she crouched down and put her warm hand on his cheek, her thumb gently wiping away a stray tear that had managed to escape.

"I know it looks scary, honey. Do you want to wait outside for another minute?"

Neal thought about it but then quickly shook his head before he took a deep breath and slowly approached the bed.  
The first thing he checked was if Peter was breathing, he would never forget the stillness of his mother's chest, and was comforted by the steady movement.  
He stood there and looked at him for a couple of minutes and soon he didn't find it as scary anymore.

"When will he wake up?"  
"They don't really know, sweetie."

Neal wasn't satisfied with that answer so he reached his hand out and gently shook the agent.

"Peter wake up."

There were no response and he shook him again.

"Wake up, daddy!"

Neal said a little louder but let out a disappointed sigh when Peter remained sleeping.  
Elizabeth pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down before she took her husband's hand and giving it a gentle kiss.

"You should listen to your son."  
She said, trying to laugh but instead the tears started yet again.

At first they didn't want to let them stay past visiting hours but after the agents had flashed their badges and Neal had flashed his puppy eyes, the nurses allowed them to stay.  
Elizabeth did try to get one of the agents to bring Neal home or at least to June's house so that he could get a good night's rest in a proper bed but the kid refused to leave.  
The agents stayed in the waiting room while Elizabeth sat in the uncomfortable chair until she eventually fell asleep.  
Neal carefully climbed up in Peter's bed and curled up next to him, a nurse came in shortly after that and she told him to not be in the bed.  
He flashed her his puppy eyes again and the nurse sighed and made him promise to be careful before she left and he could fall asleep next to Peter.  
The next day June showed up, bringing a big bouquet of flowers and a card.  
Mozzie had decided not to join since he avoided hospitals if he could but he did call Elizabeth's phone and had a long conversation with Neal which managed to momentarily distract the boy from his worry.  
The day went by slowly and they all more or less felt like they were in a trance.  
As another evening came Neal sat in Elizabeth's lap as she read out loud from one of Peter's favourite books, just in case he could hear them, and eventually he was lulled asleep by her soft voice.

Neal stretched before he slowly opened his eyes, letting out a yawn as he looked around.  
He expected to see the boring white walls and feel the sterile smell sting his nose but instead he saw blue walls and it smelled like home.  
It took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was in his own bed but once he did relief spread through his body, it must have all been just a bad dream.  
He got out of his bed and sprinted out of his room and into the adults room, ready to jump into their bed but stopped abruptly when he saw that the bed was empty.  
Neal frowned and looked around, the dim light from outside told him that it was early morning which meant that they should be sleeping.  
Maybe they had woken up early for some reason and gone downstairs to get breakfast?  
Neal ran downstairs, expecting to hear Peter or Elizabeth tell him not to run but the reprimand never came.  
As he made it downstairs he saw someone asleep on the couch while Satchmo was on the floor next to the couch, licking his paw.  
Satchmo stopped his licking and wagged his tail when he noticed the child's presence but Neal ignored the dog and instead walked closer to the sofa.  
As he got closer he identified the sleeping person as Mozzie and when he looked over at the kitchen, he saw that it was dark and empty, the Burkes were nowhere to be seen.  
The hope that the whole thing had been just a nightmare disappeared and was replaced by a frustration that Elizabeth had sent him home while he was asleep and couldn't protest.  
What if Peter woke up now and Neal wasn't there?  
He gave the dog a quick pat on his head before he turned to Mozzie and gave him a light slap on his arm.

"I deny everything."

The man said groggily as he sat up, looking around him in confusion before his eyes landed on Neal.

"What's up, kid?"  
"Take me back right now!"

He ordered, stomping his foot at the end of the sentence.

"Sorry, kid. I've got orders from Mrs. Suit, she-"  
"Fine, I'll go myself!"

He said and started to walk towards the door but Mozzie flew up from the couch and grabbed him before he made it to the front door, he knew that the kid was serious, he had gone to the hosptial on his own to visit Mozzie after all.

"Okay, I will take you back but only if you take a shower, change into some fresh clothes and get some food into you, alright?"

Neal wanted to get there right now but he knew that there was a greater chance of him being sent home again if he showed up wearing the same clothes and not being fed, so he nodded.  
He took a quick shower on his own, with Mozzie hovering outside the door in case he needed any help, and then he changed into a couple of jeans and a comfortable grey hoodie with a green t-rex on it.  
Neal then practically inhaled the food that Mozzie gave him, thinking that the faster he ate, the faster he would get back to the hospital.  
Mozzie let the dog out in the backyard so that he could take care of his needs before they could finally leave.  
They took a cab to the hospital and Mozzie immediately grabbed Neal's hand, he wasn't sure if it was to keep Neal from running through the corridors or if it was to comfort Mozzie.  
Elizabeth was standing in the waiting room, nursing a cup of coffee, when they arrived.  
She looked terrible, it looked like she had aged a couple of years, she had bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess and she looked like she might collapse any second now.

"Mozzie, I told you to keep him home for a while."

Elizabeth said, in a tired and annoyed tone, when she saw them.

"Sorry, the kid's stubborn."

She let out a sigh and shook her head, mumbling something under her breath.

"I wanted to stay here, not go home!"

Neal pointed out to Elizabeth and she sighed again, a hand reaching up to rub at her temple.

"You needed proper rest, sweetie."  
"Don't send me home again!"

Neal said, yet again stomping his foot and Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer but then closed it, too tired to argue with the child.

"To be honest, you look like you need some proper rest yourself and a change of clothes."

Mozzie pointed out and she looked down at herself, taking in her own appearance.

"Go home and rest, mommy."

Neal told her, his tone much softer than before, and Elizabeth glanced over at the room Peter was in before her shoulders slumped and she nodded.

"Okay but I'll come back in a few hours."

She ruffled Neal's still damp hair before she walked over to Jones, who was refusing to leave until he knew his boss was okay, to make sure that he could watch Neal since Mozzie was desperate to get out of here.  
Elizabeth and Mozzie left and Neal walked over to Jones, who still looked defeated.

"Hey, kid."

He greeted and Neal once again climbed up onto the agent's lap, sensing that he needed the comfort right now.

"He hasn't woken up yet, so you didn't miss anything."

The agent updated him while he enveloped the kid, hugging him tightly.

"Your dad saved my life, you know?"

Jones said and Neal, who hadn't been told exactly what had happened, now understood why Jones was so sad and didn't want to leave.  
The agent proceeded to tell him how the gun had been aimed at his head but Peter had pushed him out of the way.

"I'm glad he saved you, I like you Jones."  
Neal told him and the agent's grip around him tightened.

Elizabeth ended up sleeping for longer than she had expected so when she returned she was a little stressed but at least she looked well rested and changed clothes.  
Neal was curled up next to Peter when she returned and he shook his head, answering the unspoken question and her face fell before she sat down in the chair.  
She sat there for an hour or two before she got up to stretch her legs and get some coffee.  
Meanwhile Neal fought to stay awake but found it hard to keep his eyes open, this whole ordeal was making him exhausted.  
He decided that a quick nap might not hurt and he was almost asleep when a low, barely audible moan reached his ears.  
Neal opened his eyes, wondering if it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him but then he felt movement next to him.  
Peter seemed to be waking up, he let out a soft grunt before Neal could see his eyes open and the kid sat up.  
The lights seemed to bother Peter because he had to blink a couple of times before he could keep his eyes open and once he could do that, he looked confused.

"Daddy!"

Neal said and put his face in his field of vision before he put his arms around the man, carefully hugging him before he straightened.

"MOMMY! MOMMY!"

He yelled which caused Peter to flinch and Neal realized that he was being too loud.

"Sorry."  
"Neal."

Peter croaked, his voice low and hoarse.

"You got shot Peter but you're okay now."

He said just as Elizabeth came into the room, she looked like she was about to scold him for yelling but when she noticed her husband's brown eyes watching her, she forgot all about it.  
She rushed forward and gave him a kiss before she rushed back to the hallway calling out that he was awake and soon the other agents as well as a nurse came into the room.  
Jones lifted Neal from the bed, the child protesting loudly, to give the nurse some space to do some tests.  
Once the nurse had left the room, they gave Peter some water to soothe his dry throat.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Diana asked and Peter seemed to think for a couple of seconds before he nodded.

"Yeah, second guy with a gun."

He answered, his voice still hoarse but sounding somewhat better than when he had first woken up.

"I can't thank you enough for pushing me out of the way. You saved my life."

Jones said, tears glistening in his eyes, as he reached out and gently patted his boss' shoulder.  
Peter gave the other agent a tired smile.

"You would've done the same for me."

He then turned to Elizabeth and Neal.

"I love you both"

He paused to take a small sip of water before he added

"More than you could ever know."

Peter was so incredibly thankful that he had survived so that he could tell them that.  
Elizabeth smiled at him, a few happy tears rolling down her cheeks, and took his hand in hers, squeezing it tightly.

"I love you too, hon."

Neal climbed up on the bed again, careful not to accidentally cause Peter any pain.

"I love you too, daddy."

Neal said as he reached out and ran his small fingers through Peter's hair, just like the adults used to do to him when he needed comfort.  
Peter and Elizabeth shared a fond look since Neal hadn't actually said those words to any of them yet.  
Peter yawned and closed his eyes and within seconds he was asleep again.  
Neal was a little disappointed that he had gone back to sleep but he had learned from when Mozzie got shot that his body needed the rest.

"When can he go home?"

He asked, making sure to whisper so that he wouldn't disturb.

"I don't know sweetie, but he'll have to stay here for at least a couple of days."

Neal nodded before he curled up next to Peter again, ready to take that nap.  
Jones left the room to call and update June while Diana left to update the agents at the bureau.  
Elizabeth sat down in the chair again, watching her two favourite boys sleep, and smiled to herself, finally believing that everything was going to be okay.

After the weekend Elizabeth forced Neal to go back too school, which he wasn't too happy about, but at least he got to spend the entire afternoons at the hospital before he was forced to go home.  
Peter got better and better for every day and after a little more than a week at the hospital, the doctor felt that he could be sent home with very strict orders to be on bed-rest and to avoid any demanding physical activities.  
Jones and Neal went to the hospital to pick Peter up while Elizabeth stayed at home and prepared the couch for Peter since he had been told to avoid stairs for a while.  
Jones decided to cook dinner for them all and Diana, June and even Mozzie came over to eat and to visit Peter.  
When the guests left they watched a movie before Elizabeth took Satchmo for a walk while Peter made up a bedtime story to tell Neal.  
Once he had finished his, pretty crappy, story Peter thought Neal was asleep but then he heard the kid mumble

"Daddy?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I was really scared."

Neal confessed, his head was resting on Peter's chest and he was comforted by the sound of the agent's beating heart, each beat a confirmation that he was still alive.

"I was really scared too, buddy."  
"You're not allowed to die, daddy."

Neal mumbled before he yawned.

"Love you too much."

He added before he succumbed to sleep.  
Peter was left surprised and incredibly moved by his words and he made a vow that for Neal's sake he would do his very best to stay alive for as long as possible.


	8. Happy Mother's day!

**Author's note: I am still drowning in school work (only one week left though, before I am finally free. I decided to take the summer of for my mental health's sake) and I haven't really had the time to write.**  
 **But since I wrote a oneshot for father's day, I really wanted to write something for mother's day too (and I'm posting this on the 31st of May which is mother's day in Sweden).**  
 **This is more or less completely written on my phone and I haven't had too much time editing it but hopefully you'll still like it :)**

Happy mother's day!

"It's ugly."

Neal muttered as he turned the stuffed animal around, looking at it from all angles.  
It wasn't really that bad but it was not as good as he had imagined it in his head.

"No sweetie, I think it's adorable."

Sara's mother answered and Sara nodded in agreement.

"She will love it."

Alex said and gave him a genuine smile.  
Somehow Alex and Neal had managed to overcome their differences and even if they both still liked Sara the most, they had started to become friends.

"I guess."

Neal mumbled as an answer before he grabbed the needle and carefully continued to sew the button that would be the stuffed elephant's eye.  
Sara's mother was really good at sewing and she had offered to help the kids make their own stuffed animals.  
Sara was making a white cat, that was supposed to be her cat Tellus, and Alex decided to make a yellow butterfly.  
Neal had immediately decided to make an elephant since he knew Elizabeth loved them and since mother's day was just around the corner.  
Sara's mom had let them do all the work and had just instructed and supervised.  
Neal finished with the button and cut the thread before looking at the elephant again.  
Sure it was ugly but he had made it all by himself and considering that, it wasn't really that bad.

"Do you want to wrap it right now?"

Sara's mom asked and Neal nodded, knowing it would spare him the trouble from sneaking around trying to get wrapping paper without Elizabeth noticing.  
He got up from his chair and went into the kitchen.  
Sara's mom got him a small box that he could put the elephant in and then she cut him a piece of wrapping paper.  
Neal had recently learned how to properly wrap a gift, so he was excited to wrap it himself.  
The wrapping paper was a beautiful white paper with flowers and butterflies on.  
He couldn't wait until he could hand Elizabeth the gift.

When Peter came to pick him up, he excitedly showed him the gift but wouldn't reveal what was in it.  
Peter was pretty good at keeping secrets, except for when it came to Elizabeth and he didn't want to risk him accidentally telling her about it.  
Peter pouted the entire way home, pretending to be offended.  
When they came back home, Elizabeth was talking on the phone while pacing in the living room.  
Elizabeth didn't even notice their presence, instead she just kept pacing and talking.  
A few weeks ago she had been hired to plan a big event with very, very, very picky clients and since then she was always busy and seemed to be constantly stressed.  
Elizabeth groaned and pulled a hand through her hair.

"Hey Peter."

Neal said and then gestured for him to bend down so that he could whisper in his ear.

"For mother's day we should give 'Lizbeth a break."

Peter smiled at him.

"I think that's just what she needs."  
He agreed.

As the day came along, Neal woke up early he was way too excited to sleep.  
He quietly walked into the adults' bedroom and gently shook Peter awake and the man muttered tiredly to himself but got out of bed.  
The night before Peter had waited until Elizabeth was asleep before he turned off both the alarm clock and the alarms she had set on her phone.  
Elizabeth was meant to work all day but Peter had talked to her co-workers, who had agreed to take on the work in order to give Elizabeth her well-deserved break.  
Just like on father's day, they decided to get some breakfast-in-bed.  
Peter made coffee and then they prepared some sandwiches for Elizabeth, making sure they were exactly the way she liked them.  
They had also picked out a small bouquet of flowers and placed it next to the food.  
Neal went ahead and got the gift and the card from his room while Peter carried the tray.  
They silently walked into the room, Neal got up on the bed while Peter walked to the side of the bed.  
Satchmo decided that he wanted to be included and the dog pushed past the agent and started licking Elizabeth's hand.  
It took a couple of seconds but then Elizabeth groaned and soon she opened her eyes, looking around in confusion.

"What time is it?"

Elizabeth mumbled as she started to fully wake up.

"What's going on?"

She then asked, while sitting up, when she noticed Peter holding the tray.

"Happy mother's day!"

Neal exclaimed while Peter placed the tray on her lap.  
He also, discreetly, turned the alarm clock away from her so that she wouldn't see the time and get stressed.

"Is that today? I completely forgot."

Elizabeth yawned before she looked at the tray and smiled at the breakfast they had prepared.  
She took the bouquet and smelled them, smiling at the lovely scent.  
Now that she was awake, Neal handed her the card that he had made.  
Just like on Peter's card he had drawn their family, but this time he had drawn them all playing in the park.  
In the drawing him and Elizabeth were on the swings while Peter were next to them, playing fetch with Satchmo.  
Inside he had written:"Happy mother's day! You are the best. I love you!" and then he had signed his name in the bottom.  
His writing skills had improved a lot and he had almost been able to write it on his own, only missing two or three letters.

"Aw, thank you, sweetie."

Elizabeth said, looking at the drawing in awe.

"I got this too."

Neal said and handed her the gift.  
Elizabeth looked surprised, clearly not expecting to receive a present.  
She started to unwrap the gift and Neal watched her nervously.  
What if she didn't like it?  
She opened the box and pulled out the elephant.  
When she didn't say anything, he got even more nervous and mumbled:

"I made it myself, do you like it?"

Elizabeth turned to look at him and he could see that she had tears in her eyes.

"Oh honey, it's the best gift I've ever gotten."

She said and put the elephant down before she opened her arms.  
Neal was quick to oblige and crawled over to hug her.

"Thank you so much."  
She said and kissed the top of his head.

After breakfast Peter decided to take Elizabeth's phone from her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to fully relax as long as she had it.

"I have tons of work to do."  
"Your co-workers are taking care of it."

Elizabeth pouted, not at all ready to let go.  
When it came to her work, Elizabeth could be a bit of a control freak, wanting to be there herself and make sure everything was perfect.

"I should at least call and make sure everything's going well."  
"No. Today is your chance to relax."  
"Peter I-"  
"Please stop."

Neal interrupted, not liking when they argued especially not today which was supposed to be a special day.  
Elizabeth sighed in defeat.

"Okay."  
She said and Peter smiled as he pocketed her phone.

They spent some time just relaxing in bed before they got up and walked downstairs.  
Elizabeth got to choose an activity and they ended up playing a couple of boardgames before it was time to leave.  
Peter had planned a trip to an art museum, knowing that Elizabeth loved art just as much as Neal.  
At the museum Elizabeth and Neal walked around, talking about the paintings and the artists.  
It was hard to believe that Neal was just a child when you heard him talk about the paintings, he sounded so much older and wiser.  
The kid managed to give in-depth analyses, that sounded like something from a college essay.  
They spent a few hours at the museum, making sure to look at every single painting.  
After the museum they bought some lighter lunch before they got into the car again.  
Neal wasn't paying attention to where they were going, he was too busy daydreaming, until the car stopped.  
Instead of being back home they were at the cemetery and Neal frowned in confusion.

"What are we doing here?"

He asked but the adults didn't answer, instead they just got out of the car.  
Peter opened the door for him and helped him get out of the carseat, after seeing Neal struggle with the buckle.  
He then opened the trunk and pulled out a bouquet with purple flowers.  
Neal had been with Peter at the store yesterday but he had been fetching some snacks while Peter had picked out the flowers.

"It's for your mom."

He said, gesturing towards the cemetery where his mom was buried.  
Peter handed him the flowers and Neal looked down at them, they were beautiful and purple had been his mom's favourite colour.

"Is it okay if I visit my mommy?"

Neal asked, looking up at Elizabeth.  
He had thought about his mommy but he hadn't even considered visiting her since it was Elizabeth's day too.

"Of course."  
"You sure?"

He really wanted to give the flowers to his "real" mom but at the same time he didn't want to take any attention away from Elizabeth.

"I'm sure, sweetie."

She answered and gave him an encouraging smile.  
He took the bouquet of flowers and walked over to the grave.  
The Burkes stayed behind and let him have some space.  
Neal placed the bouquet by the headstone.

"Happy mother's day, mommy."

Neal said, reaching out and touching the cold headstone.

"I hope you are having a good day."

He sat there for a while, reassuring her that the Burkes were great parents and that he was safe and being treated well.  
He updated her on everything that had happened in his life since the last time he had been here, he told her about Alex and about Peter being shot.  
Eventually he realized that it was time to go.

"I'm gonna come back soon. I love you."

He said before he got up and touched the headstone one last time before walking back to the adults.  
Visiting his mother's grave always made him emotional, so he was immediately pulled into Elizabeth's arms in a tight, comforting hug.

Once they arrived home they played with Satchmo and then they played some more games, just to pass the time.  
Finally the doorbell rang and Satchmo happily ran over to the door.

"I'll get it!"

Neal exclaimed and rushed over to the door.  
He opened it and let Diana in.

"Hey guys."

Diana greeted, ruffling Neal's hair before she crouched down to pet Satchmo and kiss his head.

"Hi. What are you doing here? Is there a case or something?"

Elizabeth asked but the agent just smiled.

"You and Diana are going to the SPA."

Peter told her.  
Elizabeth would usually always visit a SPA after she had been stressing about something, it was a good way for her to let go of everything and fully relax.  
Since Neal and Peter had other plans and Elizabeth's friends were working, they decided to call Diana for some company.  
Elizabeth looked uncertain, glancing over at her laptop, before she finally sighed, realizing that she wouldn't get any work done today.

"Okay."

She said and grabbed her things before saying goodbye and leaving together with Diana.  
As soon as the car pulled away, Peter and Neal went to the kitchen.  
They had decided to treat Elizabeth with a three course meal and had decided on three recipes that was a little more luxurious than their regular meals but that were also simple enough for them to make.  
Peter focused on the food while Neal, with some supervision, handled the baking.  
They had just finished setting the table when Diana texted that they were almost back at the house.

"She's on her way."

Peter informed Neal who nodded and then ran around, turning all the lights off while Peter lit some candles.  
Neal returned just as the door opened and Elizabeth walked in.

"Hello?"

She called out and they could hear her taking off her coat.

"Why is it so dark in-"

Elizabeth stopped herself as she stepped into the livingroom and saw the table with all the candles.

"Oh you guys."

She mumbled while she put down her purse and walked over to them.  
Neal pulled out the chair for Elizabeth while Peter got the first dish which was a nice, creamy soup.

Once they had finished their desert, a delicious chocolate cake, Elizabeth praised their food.  
She had loved every single dish.  
Elizabeth left the table in order to take a small nap, needing to rest after eating all that food, while Neal and Peter cleared the table.  
Then they went for a long walk with Satchmo.  
They waited a while until they felt their stomachs could handle some snacks.  
Neal went upstairs to wake Elizabeth up while Peter got all the snacks ready.  
He had bought some of her favourite candies and snacks and poured a little bit of each into a couple of small bowls that he then placed on the table.  
It was like a little snack buffet and Elizabeth's eyes lit up when she saw all her favourites.

Elizabeth got to choose the movies they would watch and they all sat down on the couch, Elizabeth in the middle.  
Satchmo placed himself by their feet and they started the first movie.  
By the time the third movie ended, Peter looked over at his family and saw that they had both fallen asleep.  
Elizabeth had her head rested against Peter's shoulder while Neal had curled up into a ball and had his head in her lap.  
They were both adorable and he smiled fondly.  
This had been a good day and even if Elizabeth hadn't seen it at first, it had been exactly what she needed.


End file.
